MP Slams Deporting Expat MEN for Harassing Women
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SUBSCRIPTION SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2014 THULHIJA 18, 1435 AH www.kuwaittimes.net US embassy U2 go from Federer First Tardelli launches rock legends blows away goals help Discover to accused Djokovic in Brazil sink America2 Week spammers38 straight19 sets Argentina20 MP slams deporting expat Max 39º Min 21º men for harassing women High Tide 01:20 & 14:56 Fears decision could be misused to settle scores Low Tide 08:29 & 20:33 40 PAGES NO: 16310 150 FILS By B Izzak KUWAIT: Chairman of the National Assembly’s human rights committee MP Faisal Al-Duwaisan yesterday strongly deplored a decision by the Interior Ministry to deport expatriate males for harassing women, saying the decision will likely be misused. Duwaisan said the decision is expected to be misused by women against innocent expatriates or by security officials and service- men who could use it to threaten foreigners or settle personal grudges against them. Head of the Criminal Investigation Department Brig Gen Mahmoud Al-Tabbakh said a few days ago that the Interior Ministry will immediately deport expatriate males who are caught harassing women without send- ing them to court. Thousands of expatriate drivers were deported last year without trial for allegedly commit- ting serious traffic offenses including running the red light, ferrying passengers and others. The measure has been tempered after criticism by international human rights bodies. Tabbakh did not set any rules or conditions for con- victing an expatriate of harassment, apparently leaving the judgement to security men. Duwaisan however considered the measure as a “punishment stick” that could be falsely used against innocent expatriates by women and the security agencies as well, who do not need to provide any evidence. He said that the measure US Navy sailors prepare for flight operations aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H W Bush in the Gulf on Friday.- — AFP could also be used as a tool for settling personal scores by security agencies, asking what will happen if the expatriate is proved to be innocent after deportation. Duwaisan asked if expatriates have the right to Gulf could expand anti-IS role appeal against the deportation decision before they are sent home and if there are any regulations to prevent DUBAI: Gulf monarchies taking part in US- according to Mathieu Guidere, professor of “somewhere between purely symbolic and line said regional states were “on the right security men from misusing the decision. He also ques- led air strikes against the Islamic State Middle East Studies at Toulouse University. fully operational”. If the Gulf states did step side of the fight against extremist ideolo- tioned why expats will be deported only for harassing jihadist group in Syria could deploy special “A ground intervention from Arab countries up their role, Wehrey said it would likely gy,” which “threatens their own stability”. women, while there are many other bigger crimes. “As forces on the ground but only if certain depends on the Turkish decision to engage take the form of deploying special forces. But some commentators are asking what the head of the human rights committee, I will not conditions are met, analysts say. Sunni- or not ground troops. We are likely to see Such units would not be involved in the monarchies stand to gain from the US, accept the decision and I insist that violators should be ruled Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and the Arab boots on the ground if Turkish forces actual combat but rather staff “operations which could pull out abruptly once its own sent to court whether the crime is harassment or any- United Arab Emirates have joined air strikes engage in the Syrian territory,” he said. rooms, coordinate weapons flows, collabo- goals have been achieved. Gulf states have thing else,” Duwaisan said. on the IS, which has seized swathes of Syria Turkish forces are gathered along the rate on intelligence collection, advise and thrown their weight behind rebel groups The lawmaker warned that if the ministry goes ahead and neighbouring Iraq. But they want to Syrian border across from the strategic equip the (Syrian) opposition,” he added. which have been battling Syrian President in implementing the decision, the committee will take a assess their potential gains and fear that town of Kobane, but Ankara has been He pointed out the Gulf militaries played a Bashar Al-Assad since March 2011. “I think strong stand against a measure that is likely to be badly Shiite-majority Iran may emerge the ulti- reluctant to use them to tackle advancing similar role in shoring up Libyan rebels bat- the end state for these participating Gulf misused by women and security men by harming inno- mate winner, the experts added. IS militants. tling to overthrow the country’s longtime countries is a sort of quid pro quo whereby cent people. Under Kuwait law, there are two ways to Any decision by Gulf states to send in Frederic Wehrey of the Carnegie leader Muammar Gaddafi in the 2011 the US eventually expands the strikes to deport expatriates - the first by the court in a final ver- troops would depend on whether Turkey Endowment for International Peace said uprising. Assad’s forces,” said Wehrey. dict and the second called administrative deportation, decides to use its own ground forces, the Gulf role in strikes on Syria to date was In the Emirati daily Gulf News, a head- Continued on Page 13 which is carried out by the Interior Ministry away from the judiciary. Kurds battle for heart of Kobane MURSITPINAR, Turkey: Kurdish fighters south and east of the town early halted a thrust by Islamic State group Saturday, according to the Britain-based Bahrain oppn jihadists towards the heart of the battle- monitoring group, which has a wide net- ground Syrian town of Kobane yesterday, work of sources inside Syria. US-led war- after the UN warned thousands of civil- planes have intensified air strikes against to boycott ians risked massacre. The predawn attack IS, which has been attacking Kobane for came after the IS militants overran the three weeks, but the Pentagon has said Nov election Kurdish headquarters in the border town that there are limits to what can be done on Friday, sparking fears they would cut without troops on the ground. DUBAI: Bahrain’s Shiite-led opposition yesterday off the last escape route to neighbouring Small groups of Kurdish fighters were announced a boycott of parliamentary elections Turkey. But US officials warned that while trying to harry the encircling jihadists next month, saying the vote would cement “totali- world attention is focussed on Kobane, with operations across the front line, tarian” Sunni rule in the polarised kingdom. The tiny the jihadists have been piling pressure Observatory director Rami Abdel Gulf monarchy has been deeply divided since it was on government troops in neighbouring Rahman told AFP. UN envoy for Syria rocked by protests led by the Shiite majority in 2011 Iraq, leaving the army in a “fragile” posi- Staffan de Mistura warned Friday that calling for democratic reforms, namely a constitu- tion in Anbar province between Baghdad 12,000 or so civilians still in or near MADRID: A man holds a placard with his temperature and flashes a victory sign tional monarchy. Four opposition groups, including and the Syrian border. Kobane, including about 700 mainly eld- from his window at the Carlos III Hospital yesterday. —AFP (See Pages 28 & 29) the main Shiite movement Al-Wefaq, also vowed to The renewed IS drive on the centre of erly people in the town centre, “will most pursue “peaceful protests” in Bahrain until their Kobane sparked 90 minutes of heavy likely be massacred” by IS if the town demands are met. fighting with the town’s Kurdish defend- falls. Kobane was “literally surrounded” World tries to stem King Hamad set elections ers before the jihadists fell back, the except for one narrow entry and exit for a new 40-seat lower Syrian Observatory for Human Rights point to the Turkish border, de Mistura house of parliament for Nov said. US-led coalition warplanes also car- said. rapid Ebola spread 22, the first such polls since ried out two air strikes on IS targets Continued on Page 13 the 2011 protests. Municipal MADRID: Countries across the world Ebola, the health ministry said, but fears elections will be held simul- scrambled yesterday to stem a deadly of contagion persisted in Europe. taneously. Al-Wefaq, which Ebola outbreak that is getting worse Attention there focused on Madrid- led the protest movement “every day”, as the condition of a Spanish based nurse Teresa Romero, 44, the first against the Sunni regime, nurse infected with the disease person diagnosed as having caught the had made slender gains in improved. Travellers were screened and disease outside Africa. Spanish govern- the last polls in 2010. But it safety drills were carried out as a UN offi- ment officials were locked in a meeting Sheikh Ali Salman withdrew its 18 MPs after the cial just back from west Africa warned yesterday to coordinate their response to uprising was crushed by the the disease, which has killed more than the crisis. Romero’s condition “improved Bahraini government, a key US ally and member of 4,000 people there, was outpacing in the night. She is conscious and talks the US-led coalition in the fight against the Islamic efforts to fight it. from time to time when she is in a good State group in Syria and Iraq. “The virus is far ahead of us and every mood,” a hospital source told AFP. Her In an English-language statement received by day the situation gets worse,” the head of condition “is serious but is improving”, AFP, the opposition groups denounced the elections the United Nations’ emergency Ebola the source said.