The NewsYemen website, which was destroyed by a hacker last month, is back in business with a limited service in Arabic only. The website has blamed the Yemeni authorities for destroying its data.

In a press release, NewsYemen says it met the Yemeni telecommunications minister on Saturday and he confirmed that anyone from the ministry who was proved to have been involved in the attack would be punished.

News Yemen says that according to its US-based hosting company, the hacker used an ID belonging to Yaser al-Emad, director of the internet department in the telecommunications ministry. It also says there had been a series of failed attempts to hack the site during the previous six months.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 10 December 2009.