JEDDAH, 6 October 2004 — A Saudi truck driver who was kidnapped and released by a militant Iraqi group in June has sued Al-Jazeera television for “moral” damages and is demanding compensation, a lawyer told AFP yesterday.
Saydan Saadun Saydan charged before Kuwait’s lower court that a cameraman from the television station shot a video of him while reading a statement during captivity, Al-Jazeera’s lawyer in Kuwait, Ali al-Nimesh, told reporters.
“As the kidnappers asked me to read a statement, I saw a photographer and a reporter from Al-Jazeera entering the place. They started shooting the video,” Saydan said in his complaint.
But Nimesh said Saydan had not told the court how he recognized that the team belonged to Al-Jazeera.
On June 5, Al-Jazeera aired a video showing Saydan reading a statement warning lorry drivers not to work for the US-led occupation forces.
The man was abducted on May 31 while driving his own truck just outside Baghdad with some 1,800 boxes of soft drinks for a US company. His truck was blown up in what he said was an attack by militants on a convoy supposed to have been defended by Iraqi forces.
Nimesh said the court, which looked into the case on Monday, has adjourned until Nov. 7. He said he has challenged the authority of the court to look into such a case.
Al-Jazeera’s office in Kuwait was closed more than two years ago. The channel has fought several cases in Kuwaiti courts.
