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. 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 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, 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 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 said, "We deplore this deadly attack on our colleagues and call on Saudi authorities to apprehend the perpetrators