Saudi news anchor cries on air for Palestinian prisoner

Lujain Omran wept on her daily Saudi MBC satellite channel show A Saudi Arabian television presenter broke down in tears on air after reading a letter sent from a Palestinian prisoner inside an Israeli prison. Lujain Omran, a female host on Saudi’s MBC satellite channel, cried while reading a letter from Kamal Sami Shahlo, who has been incarcerated for seven years.
A YouTube video uploaded on the Kuwaiti Arabic language online Alanba website showed Omran wiping her eyes with a tissue while her voice waivered as she continued to read the letter, which was shown on air during the one-hour daily programme she presents each day.
“We always follow your programme inside the prison and we express our thanks for your concern about us,” Shahlo said in his letter. “We need you to give us hope and strengthen our morale inside Israeli jails.”
The news comes the same day as Palestinian lawyers and doctors expressed urgent concerns that infamous hunger striker Samer Issawi could die at any moment.
Medics at Israel’s Kaplan Medical Center notified Issawi that he risks brain damage and sudden death after he began refusing supplements in his water on Saturday.
Issawi is taking only sugar in his water and his pulse has dropped to 30 beats per minute, his lawyer Jawad Bulous told reporters.
International Palestinian Prisoners Day will commemorate prisoners and hunger strikers alike on April 17.