Manama: The Kuwait Journalists Association has urged the Kuwaiti government to take action against a Kuwait-based Syrian businessman for offering rewards to have the correspondents of television networks Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya in Syria arrested.
Faheem Saqr, the Syrian businessman, during a phone interview with Syrian television offered 10 million Syrian pounds (Dh348,869) to whoever could help in the arrest of the correspondents of the two networks in Syria.
The businessman told the Syrian channel that the two pan-Arab channels contributed to the bloodbath in Syria and that they were misleading Arabs about the events unfolding there.
The reward offer sparked anger in Kuwait.
“While the association expresses its solidarity with the journalists against any threats, it urges the Kuwaiti government to take the necessary measures against the businessman if he resides in Kuwait,” Faisal Al Qanai, secretary general of the association, said. “This call for action by the association is based on the obvious position of the Kuwaiti government in support of the Syrian people’s revolution against the massacres perpetrated by the regime in Syria,” he said in remarks published by Kuwaiti daily Al Anba on Tuesday.
A Kuwaiti attorney, Abdullah Al Ahmad, announced that he filed a case against the Syrian businessman for threatening journalists.
The lawyer said that the Kuwaiti government should react strongly against the threats, insisting that the popular and official positions in Kuwait fully supported the Syrian people against their regime.
