Simon Cumbers (23 January 1968 – 6 June 2004), an Irish
cameraman
A camera operator, or depending on the context cameraman or camerawoman, is a professional operator of a film camera or video camera as part of a film crew. The term "cameraman" does not imply that a male is performing the task.
In filmmaking, ...
for the
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
in the United Kingdom, was shot by a gunman in a terrorist attack and died while reporting in
As-Suwaidi,
Riyadh
Riyadh (, ar, الرياض, 'ar-Riyāḍ, Literal translation, lit.: 'The Gardens' Najdi Arabic, Najdi pronunciation: ), formerly known as Hajr al-Yamamah, is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyad ...
, Saudi Arabia.
His colleague
Frank Gardner, who was also shot, survived the terrorist attack but was left paralysed.
Personal life
Simon Cumbers was the son of Robert (Bob) and Bronagh (Brona) Cumbers. The couple raised their two boys Simon and Stephen and two girls Eimear and Catraoine in
Navan
Navan ( ; , meaning "the Cave") is the county town of County Meath, Ireland. In 2016, it had a population of 30,173, making it the tenth largest settlement in Ireland. It is at the confluence of the River Boyne and Blackwater, around 50&nbs ...
,
County Meath
County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the ...
,
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
. Simon Cumbers was educated at
St. Patrick's Classical School
St Patrick's Classical School () is a Roman Catholic-run school for boys in Navan, County Meath. It has produced a number of politicians, journalists, Irish sports personalities, broadcasters and two winners of the Perrier Comedy Award at ...
.
Cumbers married Louise Bevan, a journalist for
BBC News 24
BBC News (also known as the BBC News Channel) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television news channel for BBC News. It was launched as BBC News 24 on 9 November 1997 at 5:30 pm as part of the BBC's foray into digital domestic telev ...
and
Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcast ...
.
Cumbers was 36 years old at the time of his murder and he was buried at Redwood Cemetery,
Greystones
Greystones () is a coastal town and seaside resort in County Wicklow, Ireland. It lies on Ireland's east coast, south of Bray and south of Dublin city centre and has a population of 18,140 (2016). The town is bordered by the Irish Sea to ...
,
County Wicklow
County Wicklow ( ; ga, Contae Chill Mhantáin ) is a county in Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is bordered ...
, Ireland.
Career
While a student at St Patrick's, he was editor of the school magazine, ''Tuairim''; features writer for ''
Drogheda Independent
The ''Drogheda Independent'' is a newspaper that serves the Drogheda area, including Drogheda, Mid-Louth and East Meath.
The newspaper covers many thing's from local and regional news and advertisements including its own database of records. ...
'', ''Ipswich Evening'' and ''
Meath Chronicle
The ''Meath Chronicle'' is a local newspaper serving County Meath, Ireland and based in the town of Navan. Publication is weekly. It is owned by Celtic Media Group
Celtic Media Group provides publishing, printing and pre-press (graphic desi ...
''; and hosted a radio show for Royal County Radio, a local pirate radio station.
He started reporting for ''The Weekender''.
Around the age of 20, he started as a
rookie
A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year).
In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...
and advanced to chief reporter for Capitol Radio (now called
FM104
FM104 is an independent local radio station broadcast across Dublin, Ireland, on the frequency 104.4 MHz. It is operated by Capital Radio Productions Limited (unconnected with, and not to be confused with, Capital Radio plc), and is a subs ...
) in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
, Ireland.
In 1990, Cumbers moved to the United Kingdom to work with a variety of British broadcasters, including
ITN
Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based television production company. It is made up of two divisions: Broadcast News and ITN Productions. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, N ...
's
Channel 4 News
''Channel 4 News'' is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4's launch in November 1982.
Current productions
''Channel 4 News''
''Channel 4 News'' i ...
,
Channel 4 Daily,
Sky News,
APTN, and the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
.
Cumbers worked both as a journalist and a producer. In the late 1990s, he retrained and became a cameraman as well, establishing Locum Productions with his wife and BBC journalist Louise Bevan, to supply camera crews to broadcasters.
Among the stories Cumbers reported on were the 1989 death of
Nicolae Ceaușescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu ( , ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician and dictator. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second and last Communist leader of Romania. He w ...
during the
Romanian Revolution
The Romanian Revolution ( ro, Revoluția Română), also known as the Christmas Revolution ( ro, Revoluția de Crăciun), was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania during December 1989 as a part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred ...
; the 1990 release of
Brian Keenan in
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
,
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
; the late 1990s
Drumcree conflict
The Drumcree conflict or Drumcree standoff is a dispute over yearly parades in the town of Portadown, Northern Ireland. The town is mainly Protestant and hosts numerous Protestant/loyalist marches each summer, but has a significant Catholic m ...
; the
Good Friday Agreement
The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in Nor ...
and
Omagh bombing
The Omagh bombing was a car bombing on 15 August 1998 in the town of Omagh in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It was carried out by the Real Irish Republican Army (Real IRA), a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) splinter group who oppose ...
in 1998, the
Kursk submarine disaster
The nuclear-powered Project 949A, Project 949A ''Antey'' (''Oscar II'' class) submarine ''Russian submarine Kursk (K-141), APL Kursk'' (Russian language, Russian: ) sank in an accident on 12 August 2000 in the Barents Sea, during the first maj ...
in 2000, and the
2004 Madrid train bombings
The 2004 Madrid train bombings (also known in Spain as 11M) were a series of coordinated, nearly simultaneous bombings against the Cercanías commuter train system of Madrid, Spain, on the morning of 11 March 2004—three days before Spain's g ...
.
He had also interviewed
Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by '' The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spelli ...
in Libya.
Death
Journalist
Frank Gardner and cameraman Simon Cumbers were assigned to report on the aftermath of the May
2004 Yanbu attack
The 2004 Yanbu attack was an attack by gunmen against Westerners on May 1, 2004, in Yanbu' al Bahr, Saudi Arabia.
At least four militants used security passes to access a local petrochemical plant. Once on the grounds of the facility, they stor ...
and
Khobar massacre terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia, both of which had British casualties.
The British
Foreign Office
Foreign may refer to:
Government
* Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries
* Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries
** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government
** Foreign office and foreign minister
* United S ...
had restricted nonessential travel there.
On Sunday morning, the team arrived in the As-Suwaidi neighbourhood of Riyadh, an ultraconservative area where
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...
was known to have a presence.
The team was in place reporting between 10 and 30 minutes and a man, later identified as Adel al-Dhubaiti, greeted the journalists and then opened fire on them. This was followed by shooting from five others who were waiting inside a van. Cumbers was killed at the scene, while Gardner attempted escape but was seriously injured.
Cumbers' killer was later sentenced to death.
Cumbers' death was considered a murder in the UK. In Saudi Arabia, Adel al-Dhubaiti was arrested in 2004; tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death in November 2014, and executed 2 January 2016. Cumbers' parents spoke out against his execution.
Frank Gardner wrote a book, ''Blood and Sand'', published in 2010, about his reporting in Saudi Arabia and the attack on him and Cumbers.
Context
A week before Gardner and Cumbers reported from Saudi Arabia, twenty-two foreigners were taken hostage and killed by
a faction of Al-Qaeda during a shooting rampage, known as the Khobar massacre, in an eastern oil hub. The attack was an attempt by Islamic radicals to try to drive out foreigners. This act of violence made oil prices increase rapidly. The leader of the attack was
Abdel Aziz al-Muqrin
Abdel Aziz Issa Abdul-Mohsin Al-Muqrin (; ar, عبد العزيز عيسى عبد المحسن المقرن; also ''Abd al-Aziz al-Moqrin'' and other transliterations), alias Abu Hajr (ابو هاجر) and Abu Hazim, (1971–2004), was the leader ...
.
Later in the same month that Cumbers was killed, US citizen
Paul M. Johnson Jr was beheaded in Saudi Arabia.
Impact
A year after Cumbers' death,
Irish Aid
, logo = File:Irish Aid logo.jpg
, picture = File:Ministry for Foreign Affairs (Ireland).jpg
, picture_caption = Iveagh House in Dublin, DFA headquarters
, agency_type =
, logo_caption =
, company_type =
, formed = ...
established the Simon Cumbers Media Fund in honour of his memory. The fund's aim is to help, assist, and promote better quality media coverage of issues in the Irish media.
Cumbers was one of the 48 British and Irish journalists who were killed while reporting abroad between 2001 and 2010.
Reactions
Koïchiro Matsuura, the director-general of
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. I ...
, condemned the attack. His statement said, "I condemn this attack which targeted two media professionals carrying out their professional work, and who were investigating the ruthless al-Qaeda terrorist network. It is no coincidence that the enemies of freedom and democracy attack media professionals whose work upholds the values of freedom, enshrined in the United Nations Charter, and of freedom of expression, guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."
UK Prime Minister
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of the ...
said, "We have to be vigilant and get out and get after them and make sure we deal with this (terrorism) issue."
A spokesperson for the
Committee to Protect Journalists
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American independent non-profit, non-governmental organization, based in New York City, New York, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journ ...
said, "We deplore this deadly attack on our colleagues and call on Saudi authorities to apprehend the perpetrators and bring them to justice in a timely manner."
Stewart Purvis
Stewart Peter Purvis CBE is a British broadcaster, broadcasting executive, author and academic.
Purvis is married with three children.
Education
Purvis was educated at Southville School, a state primary in Feltham, West London then Dulwich Colleg ...
, a former chief executive of ITN, said, "These are tragic circumstances and they are very dangerous for any media presence in Saudi Arabia."
See also
*
Terrorism in Saudi Arabia
Terrorism in Saudi Arabia has mainly been attributed to Islamic extremists. Their targets included foreign civilians— Westerners affiliated with its oil-based economy—as well as Saudi Arabian civilians and security forces. Anti-Western att ...
References
External links
Simon Cumbers Media FundLocum Productions
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cumbers, Simon
1968 births
2004 deaths
Assassinated Irish journalists
BBC newsreaders and journalists
FM104 presenters
People educated at St Patrick's Classical School
Terrorism deaths in Saudi Arabia
2004 murders in Saudi Arabia
Terrorist incidents in Saudi Arabia in 2004