JEDDAH, 7 October 2004 — The editor in chief of Al-Watan Arabic daily was surprised yesterday evening by the appearance of a stranger with a loaded gun in his office in Abha.
The incident took place while Tariq Jaafar Ibrahim, the editor in chief, was talking to his advertising manager on the phone. He suddenly noticed the man standing in front of him and looking at him with a gun in his hand.
“The man then sat down and after a few moments threw the gun on the table saying it was loaded,” Ibrahim told Arab News.
The man had earlier told Ibrahim that something had made him come to the office of Al-Watan’s editor in chief. The gunman appeared to be calm and it is suspected that he was under the influence of drugs.
“No incident took place because I handled the intruder calmly without infuriating him,” a soft-spoken Ibrahim said. Police are investigating the incident.
