KUWAIT: The Kuwaiti opposition yesterday clearly appeared divided into at least three groups, all of whom however agree on almost similar goals but with different means and ways, amid serious calls for national dialogue to bring the opposition ranks closer together. The main group - the Opposition Coalition - headed by former MP Musallam Al-Barrak, held a lengthy meeting Sunday night and said it will soon announce a series of activities to force the abolishment of the National Assembly and scrapping of the amended electoral law. The Coalition also announced appointments to its various divisions, including an office for international communications, according to Barrak.
The other group, the Movement Coordination, which decided not to join the Opposition Coalition, has been holding its own separate activities, also with the aim to force the government to dissolve the Assembly and scrap the controversial electoral law. The Movement was scheduled to hold a public rally late yesterday outside the Central Jail in Sulaibiya titled "Kuwait is Jailed" to protest against a crackdown against opposition activists and tweeters, a number of whom have received jail sentences for allegedly insulting HH the Amir.
The third opposition group appears to be in the formation process by member of the scrapped 2012 Assembly Obaid Al-Wasmi and former Islamist MP Mohammad Hayef, who together held a meeting Sunday night to highlight the need for a national dialogue to resolve the ongoing political crisis in Kuwait. Wasmi insisted that there is an urgent need for dialogue between all sides except the government in order to draw a roadmap for a political solution. He insisted the required national dialogue is not a solution in itself but the road towards reaching a solution. He said that the government has benefited greatly from the political contradictions among the various groups and accordingly,"national dialogue has become a necessity".
Differences between the various opposition blocs and other activists are not fundamental as they agree on the need to abolish the Assembly, repeal the electoral law and introduce deep democratic and political reforms, but they differ on the extent of the reforms and the best way to achieve them.
In a related development, the court of appeals yesterday upheld a ruling by the lower court to acquit Wasmi of charges of insulting the Amir and instigating security men to disobey orders, besides resisting authorities. Wasmi was accused of committing these charges during an opposition rally held late 2010 and during which the special forces beat up many people including several MPs, wounding many. Wasmi himself was beaten up and dragged by security forces on the ground after delivering a speech.
The criminal court however postponed its session until April 1 in the case of 70 opposition activists, including 11 former MPs, accused of storming the Assembly building in November 2011. All the defendants have denied the charges. The postponement came after key witnesses from the national guards failed to show up to testify in the case. Activists insist that they didn't force open the Assembly gates but only went inside to avoid a bloody clash with police.
In a third case, the criminal court postponed the case of Barrak until April 8 for final arguments. Barrak faces charges of insulting the Amir and undermining his authorities in a speech made on Oct 15. The court yesterday heard the testimony of a state security officer who filed the complaint against Barrak. The main defense lawyer Mohammad Abdulqader Al-Jassem said the defense team will meet to study options. Barrak also complained that the court did not allow them to bring their own witnesses or to freely cross-examine the state security officer. He said the defense team will not make the final arguments.
Separately, the Assembly agreed yesterday to form a parliamentary committee to study issues that the Amir has called for speeding their implementation during an extraordinary meeting of the Cabinet on Sunday which was attended by the acting speaker Mubarak Al-Khrainej. The decision to form the committee came after a meeting Khrainej held with MPs to inform them about the outcome of the Cabinet meeting.
MP Faisal Al-Duwaisan yesterday submitted another document to prove that the interior ministry was dealing with a Canadian company that is a subsidiary of an Israeli company. Duwaisan had made the claim in a grilling request of the interior minister he filed last month that was postponed by the Assembly for several months.
MP Kamel Al-Awadhi proposed an amendment to the labour law in the private sector stipulating a jail sentence for up to five years and a fine not exceeding KD 5,000 for owners of companies who recruit labourers from outside or inside Kuwait and fail to provide them with jobs. Awadhi, a former director general of the immigration department, aims at eliminating trading in visas in companies that provide residencies to such labourers against a certain fee without giving them actual jobs.
© Kuwait Times 2013
