Assembly Refers Interior Minister Grilling to Panel
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SUBSCRIPTION WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013 RAJAB 19, 1434 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Russia to send Foreign workers Pakistani TV Swann’s Syria missiles queue to quit smashes taboos six-haul bowls as spillover Saudi Arabia with its England fears grow8 after amnesty9 answer40 to ‘Glee’ to20 victory Assembly refers interior Max 41º minister grilling to panel Min 28º High Tide 03:25 & 13:58 MPs demand action against former oil minister Low Tide 08:42 & 21:37 40 PAGES NO: 15823 150 FILS By B Izzak conspiracy theories KUWAIT: The National Assembly yesterday agreed with a comfortable majority to refer the grilling against Interior Committees Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Sabah to the legal and legislative committee to study if it breached the con- stitution. Forty-six MPs voted in favour of the request season made by Sheikh Ahmad at the start of a heated debate sparked by strong accusations made by MP Safa Al- Hashem, who filed the grilling along with MP Youssef Al- Zalzalah. The minister said the grilling contained a num- ber of suspected violations of the constitution, especially with regards to allegations that former Kuwaiti MPs were By Badrya Darwish accused of being members of a terror cell associated with a similar cell in the United Arab Emirates. The minister also insisted that parts of the accusations in the grilling refer to actions that were taken before he was appointed to the post about two years ago which [email protected] contradicts a ruling by the constitutional court. The par- liamentary committee was given one month to discuss the grilling and find out if it tried hard to remain silent on the Dow deal breached the constitution. for the past few weeks. I think that it was The postponement came as Iwrong to cancel the mega project in the first expected with the next date place. However, the decision was taken after for debating the grilling pressure was exerted on the then prime minister falling after June 16 when the by the opposition. I think that when the deal was constitutional court is sched- cancelled, it was not Sheikh Nasser’s job to look uled to make a very crucial into the matter. Since that day I do not know verdict regarding the amend- who to blame - the ministers, lawyers, those who ment of the electoral law. agreed to scrap the deal without reading thor- Among possible verdicts is oughly the contract or those who signed it. that the court may nullify the December elections and Now we all suffer. Dow is the prevalent sub- order the dissolution of the ject in the media. More to the point, Dow has National Assembly like it did with the previous opposi- opened the Pandora’s box of dirty linen hanging tion-dominated Assembly. in the public sphere and is also doing rounds in MPs Hashem and Zalzalah strongly objected to the the diwaniyas. It showed the worst of men. The minister’s request to delay the grilling debate and worst of it all was exposed on social networks. Hashem launched a scathing attack against the minister Do not ignore social networks. It is the sharpest for allegedly failing to control the security situation and and strongest weapon of this age. Social net- not applying the law against the opposition. MP Ali Al- working can topple governments and make rev- Omair supported the request and accused the two olutions. We saw that in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and KUWAIT: Prime Minister HH Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah attends a session at the National grillers of exaggerating the issue about the UAE terrorist now we see it in Syria. Social networking helped Assembly yesterday. (Inset) Interior Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Sabah speaks during the ses- cell, saying the grilling includes false information. 90 percent in the change of regimes. It doesn’t sion. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat Continued on Page 15 mean, however, that whatever is posted on social networks is accurate. As humans we have a tendency to believe Rebels give Hezb 24-hr ultimatum gossip and rumours without verifying them. Even if they are verified and the person clears his DUBAI: Syrian rebel chief Salim Idriss warned Arabi and UN chief Ban Ki-Moon. name, you will see that tweeters and social net- yesterday that if fighters from Lebanon’s Shiite “I will no longer be bound by any commit- work posters are not bothered. Everything goes party Hezbollah do not stop their aggression ments I made, if a decision to stop the hush-hush. in Syria, where they are backing government attacks... is not taken and implemented,” said Back to the Dow deal now. This is one of the troops, “we will take all measures to hunt” Idriss, a brigadier general who heads the most nutritious food items for social networks. them, “even in hell”. “If the attacks of Hezbollah supreme military council of the Free Syrian Since the Dow investigation started, there has against Syrian territory do not stop within 24 Army. “I can no longer restrain the fighters” of been a lot of reshuffling in the government, in hours, we will take all measures to hunt the FSA, he added without saying what con- the oil sector and in key oil positions. There were Hezbollah, even in hell,” he told Al-Arabiya crete action they might take. “We are being not much explanations about the reasons for news channel, addressing Lebanese President subjected to a genocide conducted by this reshuffling. What about the constant setup Michel Sleiman, Arab League chief Nabil Al- Hezbollah,” charged Idriss. “I hope that every- of new committees? There is one committee that one will excuse the Free (Syrian) Army” for is formed and another one that exists to super- retaliating, he said. vise it. Then a third committee oversees what is Iran-backed Hezbollah, a close ally of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, sent almost going on in the two committees. Is this the sea- 1,700 fighters to the central Syrian town of son of committees these days? Qusair more than a week ago to support the After a committee is formed, we would like to regimke’s assault on the rebel stronghold. know the progress and secrets they uncover. Initially Hezbollah said it wanted only to Sadly, no one tells us anything. In such cases we defend 13 Syrian villages along the border are left with no other option but to become vic- where Lebanese Shiites live, and the Sayyeda tims of social networks and find out what the Zeinab shrine near Damascus, which is main news in the country is from them. We wait revered by Shiites around the world. However, for a Whatsapp that is usually flooded with BAB AL-SALAM, Syria: US Senator John its fighters later encircled Qusair with regime rumours. We do not know if they are even half McCain (left) is seen with Syrian rebel troops before the launch of a withering JINHUA, China: This frame grab shows rescue workers breaking away bits of right or totally wrong. leader Gen Salim Idriss in this border assault on the strategic border town that is a pipe to remove a newborn baby boy stuck inside in this city in the eastern I hope that in the coming holy month of town on Monday. — AFP (See Page 8) home to 25,000 people. — AFP province of Zhejiang. — AFP Ramadan, the Dow deal inquiry will be over and we will all go back to normal. We will just be Baby rescued from stuck with traffic, deportations and the new China ‘steals’ plans of US shark attacks on illegal residents. weapons, Aussie spy HQ toilet pipe in China BEIJING: A newborn baby boy was spotting the infant. French victim WASHINGTON/SYDNEY: Chinese cyber The cyber spying gave China access to rescued from a sewage pipe in a But according to the state-run news hackers have breached networks con- advanced technology and could weaken Chinese apartment building after site Zhejiang News, a tenant heard the of MERS dies taining designs for an array of advanced the US military’s advantage in the event becoming stuck down a toilet, local baby’s sounds in the public restroom US weapons programs, from stealthy of a conflict, the report said. The police said yesterday, in a case that of the residential building and notified fighter jets to missile defense systems, Pentagon advisory report stopped short provoked a shocked online reaction. authorities. The landlord of the build- 5 new Saudi cases officials said yesterday. The breaches of accusing Beijing of stealing the The mother of the baby, 22 and ing told Zhejiang News that it was were part of a broad Chinese campaign designs, but the conclusions help explain LILLE/RIYADH: France’s first victim of a SARS-like unmarried, hid her pregnancy from unlikely the birth took place in the toi- of espionage against US defense con- recent US warnings to the Chinese gov- neighbours for fear of being let room because there was no evi- virus, which the 65-year-old man is thought to have tractors and government agencies, ernment. Precisely how much sensitive contracted in Dubai, has died, health officials said ostracised, a police officer in Jinhua in dence of blood and she was not aware according to a Pentagon report, said offi- technical information the hackers may the eastern province of Zhejiang, told of any recent pregnancies among her yesterday. “The first patient is dead,” said a cials, confirming a Washington Post have obtained was still uncertain, said a spokesman with the Directorate General for Health, AFP.