(RSF/IFEX) – On 29 May 2004, Ismail Zair, editor-in-chief of the independent daily “Al-Sabah al-Jadid”, was the target of an attempted kidnapping. His driver and bodyguard were kidnapped and later killed. Zair was formerly editor-in-chief of the daily “Al-Sabah”. RSF called for a thorough and speedy inquiry into the incident and demanded that Zair be […]
(RSF/IFEX) – On 29 May 2004, Ismail Zair, editor-in-chief of the independent daily “Al-Sabah al-Jadid”, was the target of an attempted kidnapping. His driver and bodyguard were kidnapped and later killed. Zair was formerly editor-in-chief of the daily “Al-Sabah”.
RSF called for a thorough and speedy inquiry into the incident and demanded that Zair be given protection. “We are very concerned about Ismail Zair’s safety, as he no longer has official protection since his resignation as editor-in-chief of the occupation forces funded daily ‘Al-Sabah’, which he left to found the independent daily ‘Al-Sabah al-Jadid’. Following the killing of his driver and bodyguard, we fear that his life is seriously in danger,” the organisation said.
On 29 May, at 9:00 a.m. (local time), a police vehicle and three unmarked cars parked in front of Zair’s home. A man dressed in a police uniform told Zair he had a summons to deliver to him. Claiming he needed to change his clothes, Zair went back into his home and phoned a government minister who denied that a summons had been issued. The journalist remained inside his home. His son, who had stayed outside, managed to escape. Zair’s driver and bodyguard were kidnapped and killed.
Zair said his attackers may have been agents of Saddam Hussein’s former regime or “people who did not appreciate that I left ‘Al-Sabah’ to launch a new paper,” according to the French news agency Agence France-Presse. On 3 May, Zair launched “Al-Sabah al-Jadid” with the help of other “Al-Sabah” journalists. They left the paper in protest over American interference in its editorial line.
Zair and his wife, Anneke van Ammelrooy, a journalist with the Dutch weekly “De Groene”, are both Dutch citizens.
