Said Sayem | |
---|---|
Born | 22 July 1959 Al-Shati, Gaza Strip |
Died | 15 January 2009 (aged 49) Jabalia, Gaza Strip |
Nationality | Palestinian |
Said Seyam (Arabic: سعيد صيام; 22 July 1959 – 15 January 2009), first name also spelled Saeed and Sayed and last name also spelled Siam, was the interior minister of the Palestinian government of March 2006. He joined Hamas and became one of its top commanders. During the 2008–09 Gaza War, Seyam was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Jabalia. Seyam was the most senior Hamas member killed in the war, and the most senior Hamas figure killed by Israel since the death of Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi in April 2004.
Said Seyam was born on 22 July 1959 in the Al-Shati refugee camp near Gaza City. His parents fled there during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War from their village home of al-Jura, near Ashkelon. Following his secondary education in Gaza City, he gained a diploma in sciences and maths, followed by a bachelor's degree in Islamic education from the Al-Quds Open University.
It is unknown when Seyam joined Hamas, but he was one of the early members. Seyam held a job as a teacher at various United Nations-run schools until 2003. He was arrested four times during the First Intifada from 1987 to 1991. In 1992, he was expelled from the Palestinian territories by Israel to southern Lebanon and upon his return in 1995, Seyam was arrested by the Preventive Security Service (PSS) dominated by Fatah.