Kuwaiti Parliament lifts immunity of wanted MP

Manama: Kuwait’s National Assembly (Parliament) has lifted the parliamentary immunity of an MP who is wanted in Bahrain.

The assembly’s Legislative and Legal Committee announced yesterday that it approved a request to strip MP Abdulhamid Dashti off his parliamentary immunity.

The committee said the request was submitted by the Kuwaiti Justice Ministry and mentioned that it’s related to state security cases that included insulting Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

This comes few days after Bahrain’s Public Prosecution issued an arrest warrant against Dashti for his involvement in illegal fundraising in the Kingdom. He has been sentenced in absentia to two years of imprisonment last December.

“The arrest warrant has been circulated internationally through the Interpol,” the Public Prosecution confirmed.

The controversial MP had repeatedly made hostile statements against Bahrain and even called for a military strike against Saudi Arabia in an interview with a pro-Syrian regime television channel.

These statements were highly rejected by his fellow Kuwaiti lawmakers, who called for ousting him from the council and revoking his citizenship. It was also condemned by the Saudi and Kuwaiti Foreign Affairs Ministries.

Is he escaping?

In another development and following the Bahraini arrest warrant issued against Dashti, who is currently in Switzerland, a few activists claimed that Dashti is attempting to escape to London, knowing that the British government will not hand him over to the Interpol.

Saudi media reports said, “Dashti suffered a cardiac arrest when he heard about the international arrest warrant about him and he was admitted to a Swiss hospital for treatment.”

The MP’s office confirmed that “Dashti was admitted to a hospital in Geneva due to heart complications, which resulted in arm paralysis.”

The office stated, “The MP also suffered severe pain in the right part of his brain. He is unable to speak now and we’re waiting for his condition to stabilise so we can shift to London to continue his treatment there.”

Wanted in 18 cases

DT News recently spoke to UK-based British Centre for Middle East Studies and Researches Regional President Amjad Taha, who confirmed that Dashti is wanted in 18 cases, including two security related cases in Kuwait.

“He is mainly wanted for fraud cases in Kuwait. We are now following up on a terrorism case here in London that Dashti is involved in. His name was mentioned by one of the main suspects in a terrorism case. The suspect stated in court that Dashti assisted him to travel and get trained in Iraq,” Taha informed.

It’s noteworthy that Taha, who’s also a journalist and a political analyst, had several confrontations with Dashti in international human rights forums.

DT News reported on Saturday that Bahraini lawmaker Jamal Buhassan would travel this week to Kuwait to file several cases against Dashti. He informed that the cases included supporting terrorism in Bahrain, inciting against the Bahraini regime and destabilising the Kingdom’s security.