KUWAIT CITY: A Kuwaiti judge on Sunday ordered two newspapers to close for two weeks for breaking a news blackout on a videotape allegedly showing former senior officials plotting a coup, a legal source said.

The order against the independent Al-Watan and Alam Al-Youm newspapers was issued after the information ministry filed a complaint, the source said.

The videotape has shaken the Gulf state, prompting an investigation and parliament to hold a secret debate on the issue. Kuwait’s attorney general ordered a blackout on news relating to the tape, while the royal court has called for calm.

Following parliament’s debate, parliamentary spe-aker Marzouk al-Ghanem on Tuesday said the prime minister had told MPs that the videotape had been “tampered with” and not reliable.

Local media have said the former officials in the videotape include a senior member of the ruling family, without elaborating.

The government informed parliament it will hand over all the tapes and related documents to the public prosecution, which is currently conducting an investigation.