Share16 jailed for repeating Barrak's speech
KUWAIT: Opposition MP Riyadh Al-Adasani said yesterday that if the prime minister and the government want a fresh, clean start with the National Assembly, all revoked citizenships must be returned and economic austerity measures halted. Adasani said that the government had revoked the citizenships of most people in the past few years for political reasons and not as a result of forgery or any other errors.
Citing examples, Adasani said the citizenships of Ahmad Jabr Al-Shimmari, the owner of the closed Al-Youm television, and Islamic preacher Nabil Al-Awadhi were revoked for threatening national security, although the government failed to provide the court with any evidence. He added that the citizenships of former opposition MP Abdullah Al-Barghash and 58 members of his family and that of opposition activist Saad Al-Ajmi were revoked for forgery, but again it failed to prove that in court.
He said if they had faked their citizenship documents, they should have been sent for investigation before their citizenships were revoked. Adasani welcomed the move by some MPs to amend the nationality law to prevent arbitrary revoking of citizenships, but he said the law - if approved - would only apply to cases in the future and will not return the revoked citizenships. The lawmaker said that if the prime minister wants to open a new page, he should return those citizenships and review the economic austerity measures to stay away from taxing citizens.
Meanwhile, Islamist opposition MP Osama Al-Shaheen said yesterday that he and a number of lawmakers submitted two packages of draft laws - the first to abolish austerity decisions and measures and the second for abolishing laws that curb public freedoms. These laws were passed by the previous Assembly, which was entirely pro-government. Shaheen said lawmakers have a daunting task ahead, but they are determined to achieve it.
MP Saadoun Hammad yesterday warned Minister of Social Affairs and Labour Hind Al-Subaih to scrap a decision that halted social government aid for Kuwaiti women married to non-Kuwaitis. He said the minister's decision was not properly studied and is totally rejected, adding that the decision has created social problems for many Kuwaiti women who are paying back hefty bank loans. He said that if the minister does not scrap the decision, lawmakers will pass legislation to force the ministry to pay the aid as before.
Separately, the criminal court yesterday sentenced 16 opposition activists to two years in prison for repeating in public a speech by former opposition lawmaker Musallam Al-Barrak, who is serving a two-year jail term for making the speech. The court however asked every convict to pay a bail of KD 3,000 to suspend the implementation of the jail term. It now depends on the appeals and the cassation courts to decide whether the jail term will be served. Barrak was jailed for two years for making the speech in Oct 2012 and which the courts considered as undermining the authority of HH the Amir.
By B Izzak
