Kidnapped Syrian TV host executed: NGO

BEIRUT, Aug 4: Syrian television presenter Mohammed al-Saeed, kidnapped from his Damascus home in mid-July, has been executed, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday.



"The television presenter, a well-known figure on state TV, has been executed, and the Al-Nusra Front has claimed responsibility for the killing," the Observatory´s Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.[break]



Al-Nusra, a little-known Islamist militant group, claimed the kidnapping and execution of Saeed in a statement on Friday.



"The heroes of western Ghouta (in Damascus province) imprisoned the shabih (pro-regime militia) presenter on July 19," said Al-Nusra. "He was then killed after he had been interrogated."



Posted on a forum featuring the Al-Qaeda flag, Al-Nusra´s statement showed a photograph of Saeed looking frightened, with his back against a wall in an unknown location.



"May this be a lesson to all those who support the regime," it said.



Contacted by AFP, state TV director Maan Saleh said: "We have no material proof of this killing."



Last month, international media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders issued a statement on Saeed´s kidnapping, and urged his captors to release him.



"News media and journalists -- both professional and citizen journalists -- should not be targeted by any of the parties in a war or civil war," it said at the time.

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