Kuwait Times

Published Date: February 21, 2008
By B Izzak, Staff writer

KUWAIT: The opposition Popular Action Bloc yesterday expelled its members Adnan Abdulsamad and Ahmad Lari over their participation in a mourning rally for top Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyah who was killed last week. The surprising decision came as pressure mounted on the two lawmakers, with some MPs either urging the government to take legal action against them and others already preparing for lifting their immunity to allow their prosecution.

The Popular Action Bloc, headed by veteran MP Ahmad Al-Saadoun, strongly condemned in a statement that the participation of the two MPs in "the rally to mourn terrorist Imad Mughniyah who brutally killed two Kuwaitis during the hijacking of the Jabriya plane" in 1988. It added that the rally was held on Kuwaiti territory after 20 years of the hijacking "which has hurt the feelings of Kuwaitis". The expulsion came following a lengthy meeting of the group and after consultations with all members, the stateme
nt said. Besides Abdulsamad and Lari, the group comprises of five MPs.

Abdulsamad and Lari could not be reached for comment because they were away on a parliament delegation trip to Finland. At the eulogy they attended, Abdulsamad had said there was no evidence Mughniyah was involved in the hijacking. The Cabinet has condemned the glorifying of Mughniyeh and warned this could cause civil strife. It said Monday it was taking "legal measures that would safeguard national unity".

Earlier in the day, four Kuwaiti lawyers filed a lawsuit against the two MPs and several other Shiite personalities who took part in the rally. They explained to the public prosecution a set of charges against the men. The men accused also include former MP Abdulmohsen Jamal, former state minister for national assembly affairs Abdulhadi Al-Saleh and municipal council member Fadhel Safar, lawyer Dhaidan Al-Mutairi told AFP. "We accused them of being founders and members of Hezbollah Kuwait, undermining nati
onal unity and declaring loyalty to Lebanon's Hezbollah," Mutairi said after meeting the public prosecutor. The charges are punishable under Kuwait's penal code, he said.

The lawyers said they filed the lawsuit as ordinary Kuwaiti citizens. They said they accused the men of being members of a clandestine organisation, Hezbollah Kuwait, working against the interests of Kuwait. Other charges included undermining Kuwait's national unity and disrespecting the feelings of the Kuwaiti people. The public prosecution will now gather information about the men before starting to interrogate them and possibly press charges. The two MPs however enjoy parliamentary immunity and any lega
l action against them must be preceded by lifting their immunity.

MP Faisal Al-Muslim yesterday called on the government to prosecute the two MPs and warned that if the government fails to do so, it will be held accountable. MP Waleed Al-Tabtabae, a Salafist, said he would be the first one to vote in favor of lifting the immunity of the two MPs so they could be prosecuted. Shiite MP Saleh Ashour meanwhile put the blame squarely on the government for allowing the issue to snowball into a serious crisis.

Ashour said that the government should be held responsible for the "political and sectarian" consequences because it was very late in taking a clear position on Mughniyah. The lawmaker also blasted the Salafist group, Ommah Principles Alliance, which he accused of acting like a state within a state and for monitoring Shiite husseiniyas while the government remained a "mere spectator".

In April, 1988, Shiite gunmen hijacked the jumbo jet "Jabriya" en route from Thailand to Kuwait. They diverted it to Iran, Cyprus and Algeria, demanding Kuwait free 17 pro-Iranian terrorists jailed for attacks in Kuwait. After a 16-day ordeal and the murder of two Kuwaiti passengers, hijackers freed the hostages and were allowed to leave Algiers. The 17 terrorists escaped from prison when Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990.

In another development, MP Marzouk Al-Ghanem accused the social affairs and labour minister Jamal Al-Shehab of being a "part in a conspiracy against Kuwaiti sports". Ghanem was reacting to a decision by Shehab calling on sports clubs to elect a new board of directors of the Kuwait Football Federation on the basis of sports laws passed by the Assembly last year.

This means that the new board will comprise 14 members as opposed to five members demanded by FIFA, thus risking a decision by the international body to suspend Kuwaiti football. Ghanem said that the minister should have first dismissed the board of directors of the Public Authority for Sports and Youth before taking the new decision because they plotted against Kuwaiti sports and accused them of being responsible for what has happened to Kuwaiti sports.