Tahseen Khayat

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Tahseen Salah Khayat (Arabic: تحسين صلاح الخياط) was born on October 24, 1942, in Sidon, Lebanon. He is a Lebanese businessman and the founder and chairman of Al Jadeed TV. He also leads the Tahseen Khayat Group, which works in publishing, printing, distribution, media, energy, and pharmaceuticals.

He is the son of Salah Khayat, a respected judge, and Mounira Fawaz. He grew up in Sidon and studied at the America Evangelical School, the International College in Beirut, and the American University of Beirut.

As a young man, Khayat worked as a bookseller in Kuwait. In the late 1960s he moved to Abu Dhabi with a suitcase full of books and, in 1969, opened AllPrint, the first bookstore on Airport Road. The store served important clients including Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He later started printing and publishing companies in Britain and France.

In 1991-1992, Khayat bought the shares of NTV from the Lebanese Communist Party and renamed it NewTV, which later became Al Jadeed TV. The channel was shut down in 1997 amid political pressure, but it was relaunched on October 2, 2001, after a court ruling.

Khayat is known for pan-Arab and Lebanese nationalist positions, which shaped Al Jadeed’s reporting. He faced pressure from the Lebanese–Syrian security apparatus and was arrested at times, including a brief arrest in 2003 related to the Al Madina Bank investigations. He and Al Jadeed continued reporting to defend depositors’ rights.

In 2015, Khayat was convicted of failing to remove information about alleged confidential witnesses from Al Jadeed’s website, but the case ended with the conviction overturned in 2016. He has survived several assassination attempts and attacks on his offices and home, remaining committed to independent media and the rule of law.

Khayat is married to Samar Osseiran, and they have five children: Bushra, Karma, Karim, Nadia, and Ghida. His family history traces back to Ahmed Al-Zein, a figure connected to Lebanon’s past.