ShareKUWAIT: HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah yesterday issued a pardon for a number of prisoners who have served part of their jail terms and reduced the terms of others, on the occasion of Eid Al-Adha. No names were mentioned in the brief announcement made by the Amiri Diwan, but activists said it could include political prisoners, mostly opposition activists who were handed down jail terms for criticizing HH the Amir. But this has not been officially confirmed.
Activists said on social media that prominent opposition leader and former MP Musallam Al-Barrak, currently serving a two-year jail sentence for insulting HH the Amir, could be pardoned. Barrak's nephew Ali said on Twitter that his uncle and other political activists are among those pardoned, but Barrak's lawyers said they had no clue if he was included.
Separately, the communication and information technology commission refuted rumors that the social media messaging service Twitter will be blocked in the country. Jamming Twitter goes against freedom of speech and opinion, the commission's vice chairman Khaled Al-Kandari told KUNA yesterday. The commission is an avid supporter of freedom of expression, he stressed. No social network will be blocked in the country, he said, adding that these rumors are utterly "untrue". He pointed out that all social networks function under laws and no action will be taken against any of them unless it goes through proper legal channels.
In another development, a number of MPs have started collecting signatures on a motion calling to convene an emergency session of the National Assembly to discuss the hiking of petrol prices and its impact on Kuwaiti citizens. Three MPs have already signed the motion, which requires at least 32 lawmakers to sign to force the government to attend the session. The motion calls to hold the session on Sept 22, one week after the long Eid Al-Adha holidays.
MPs Ahmad Al-Qudhaibi, Awdah Al-Awdah and Mohammad Tana have signed the motion initiated by Qudhaibi, who criticized lawmakers who have threatened to grill ministers over the petrol price hike, saying that such threats are election maneuvers. The hike in petrol prices, the first since 1998, went into effect on Sept 1 despite protests by a large number of lawmakers and campaigns by activists on social media.
MPs have demanded that the government should accompany its decision by compensating Kuwaiti citizens by implementing a series of economic reforms that protect citizens from the impact of lifting subsidies to meet the budget deficit. The government has so far ignored the requests, but a measure to appease lawmakers ahead of crucial parliamentary election is not ruled out.
The motion demanded that the emergency session will debate the government's decision to reduce subsidies on petrol and its impact on citizens and prices in general. It also wants to discuss the reasons that made the government rush with the decision despite an agreement with the Assembly's financial and economic affairs committee to delay the decision until further studies. The motion also wants the session to debate measures adopted by the government in implementing the economic reform package.
But MP Faisal Al-Kandari criticized the motion, saying that the time of negotiations and discussions with the government has gone by and insisted that it was time for action. The lawmaker said that he is determined to file requests to grill ministers over the petrol price hike, claiming that the emergency session is intended to protect the government and more specifically a minister. He did not name him.
A number of lawmakers have already announced their intention to grill at least three ministers immediately after the start of the next parliamentary term in early October. The ministers targeted include those of commerce, finance and health. Kandari said that by raising petrol prices, the government broke a pledge it gave to lawmakers not to rush the decision, adding that questioning the government over this issue is inevitable.
By B Izzak
