Journalist Hedaya al-Salem buried, the killer found
Kuwait, Local, 3/22/2001

A funeral was held on Wednesday for the Kuwaiti renowned journalist active in the area of women rights Hedaya Sulatn al-Salem who was assassinated on Tuesday.

Hundreds of persons took part in the funeral ceremony of the late Hedaya al-Salem who was the chief editor of the Kuwaiti magazine al"Majales." News reports were contradictory on number of persons who were arrested because of this incident, and Kuwaiti political sources said that at least one person was arrested and others have been inquired over the assassination incident.

On Wednesday evening the Kuwaiti ministry of the Interior said it had arrested the killer of Hedaya al-Salem. The ministry said in a statement quoted by the Kuwaiti news agency that " Thank God, in the mid of this day ( Wednesday) the specialized security forces at the ministry of the Interior could arrest the killer of Hedaya Sultan al-Salem."

The statement added that the killer is called Khaled Ziab Naqa al-Azemi and " he admited the full details of his crime before the policemen." The Kuwaiti news agency also quoted a police statement that " al-Azemi is an officer in the police and he is of a Kuwaiti nationality and that he admitted he killed Hedaya by shooting fire at her from his pistol." The Kuwaiti news agency added that inquiries with the policeman continue to find out whether he acted individually or he had partners in this crime.

Sources in the Kuwaiti police said that he admitted to investigators he had killed Hedaya al-Salem because she on July 2000 issued an article in her magazine that portrays negatively girls of al-Awazm tribe from which he comes.

However, al-Awazem tribe which is of 100,000 members enjoys a big influence in Kuwait and has 8 representatives at the Kuwaiti parliament.

In Cairo the general secretariat of the Arab Journalists Union condemned the assassination of Hedaya al-Salem.

The statement which was signed by the secretary general of the Arab Journalists Union Salah Eddine Hafez expressed " the great regret of the general secretariat over the assassination of colleague journalist Hedaya al-Salem." The General secretariat also denounced" every aggression attempt against journalists or resorting to violence to terrify pens and oppress thoughts, regardless to reasons of differences."

Previous Stories:
  Kuwaiti chief editor women killed   (3/21/2001)
  The Kuwaitis are 2.228 million   (3/12/2001)
  Emir of Kuwait plane inspected at Heathrow airport   (3/5/2001)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search