TVNZ hunts for sender of menacing email

Television New Zealand is trying to find out who sent a menacing email from one of its computers to an Iraqi man.

Auckland engineer Khalid Al Sayegh was outraged after receiving a reply to a complaint he made which said: "Watch out for bombs under your car," the Dominion Post reported.

TVNZ has apologised to Mr Al Sayegh after it sent him the threat and then accused him of forging it.

Mr Al Sayegh had complained to Close Up at Seven on Wednesday about what he saw as biased coverage of two former Iraqi officials who entered New Zealand.

TVNZ spokeswoman Zara Potts said the company was doing what it could to find out who sent the email.

The computer terminal from which the message originated had been identified but it was difficult to say who had sent it.

"It may not have been intended to have been sent as a reply and been a forwarding mistake, but either way its not appropriate," she told NZPA today.

"It's something we do take very seriously."

She was unsure what the consequences for the sender would be if they were found.

TVNZ initially denied yesterday that the email had come from its office, suggesting Mr Al Sayegh had tampered with the auto-reply generated by his email to make it look menacing.

But an hour later, TVNZ confirmed the email did exist and had been sent from a Close Up computer.

Ms Potts said Close Up staff were in a meeting when the email was sent, suggesting someone used an unmanned computer to send the message.

- nzpa