JEDDAH, 22 July 2007 — A 49-year-old Makkah institution was bailed out of financial troubles with a SR10 million cash infusion from Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah’s personal account yesterday.
Al-Nadwa, which has chronicled the daily life of Islam’s holiest city in modern times, has been unable to meet payroll for the past three months, according to Hesham Kaaki, the 30-year-old editor in chief of the newspaper.
“King Abdullah ordered the payment of the amount to the Al-Nadwa newspaper from his personal account to help it overcome its current financial crisis,” said Culture and Information Minister Iyad Madani in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency.
The culture and information minister said that the kind gesture is proof of the king’s support for the Kingdom’s media. Madani added that he hopes the newspaper will regain its glory and competitiveness through the king’s donation.
Kaaki said that workers walked off the job due to the lack of pay and that he approached the paper’s board of directors expressing his concern about losing staff, but the board gave the editor an unfavorable response.
Kaaki said the king’s donation would be used to cover employees’ back pay and end-of-service benefits. He thanked King Abdullah for his support.
“Not only the employees of the newspaper but also the citizens of Makkah appreciated the king’s generous and timely gesture that has saved the newspaper,” he added.
Muhammad Abdu Yamani, chairman of the board of directors of the Makkah Establishment for Printing and Information, the company that published Al-Nadwa, also thanked the king for his support at this difficult time.
