SUBSCRIPTION THURSDAY, JULY 23, 2015 SHAWWAL 7, 1436 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Gitmo Unwanted gift The Real Manchester Kuwaiti’s from Stalin, Fouz: DIY United beat review set Warsaw Palace of homemade Earthquakes for July3 27 Culture14 turns 60 conditioner37 in20 exhibition Government bid to extend Min 31º Max 46º detention period slammed High Tide 03:12 & 14:49 MP criticizes oil minister over statements Low Tide 09:42 & 21:33 40 PAGES NO: 16587 150 FILS By B Izzak ‘World’s oldest’ Quran parchments found KUWAIT: Opposition groups and a liberal lawmaker yester- day strongly rejected attempts by the government to LONDON: Fragments of a Holy Quran manuscript amend the penal code in order to extend detention peri- found in a British university library are from one of the ods. The so-called parliamentary majority opposition world’s oldest surviving copies of the Islamic text, and group said in a statement that it has been disturbed by may even have been written by someone who knew reports that the government wants to extend the deten- Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), researchers said yester- tion period in police custody to four days instead of the day. Radiocarbon dating indicated that the parch- current 48 hours and raise preventive detention to 21 days ment folios held by the University of Birmingham in instead of four days. central England were at least 1,370 years old, which The group, consisting members of the Feb 2012 parlia- would make them one of the earliest written forms of ment which was dissolved by court, recalled that the penal the Islamic holy book in existence. code was amended and the detention period shortened in “They could well take us back to within a few years 2012 by that parliament. The statement said that the 2012 of the actual founding of Islam,” said David Thomas, amendments were brought about to end illegal practices Professor of Christianity and Islam at the university. by police and alleged torture during detention. Researchers said the manuscript consisted of two The statement called on the Kuwaiti people to oppose parchment leaves and contained parts of surahs any move to change the positive old amendments with (chapters) 18 to 20, and was written with ink in an ear- new ones to curtail freedoms and rights. The group also ly form of Arabic script known as Hijazi. said the new move comes at a time when authorities have The university said for years it had been mis-bound banned relatives of opposition leader Musallam Al-Barrak, with leaves of a similar Quran manuscript which dated currently serving a two-year term, to visit him. from the late seventh century. The radiocarbon dat- Last week, MP Abdullah Al-Maayouf said that the amend- ing, said to have a 95.4 percent accuracy, found the ments will be issued in an emergency decree because the parchment dated from between 568 and 645. National Assembly is in recess. Secretary general of the liber- Muhammad (PBUH) lived between 570 and 632. They al National Democratic Alliance Bashar Al-Sayegh also criti- were spotted by an Italian academic, Alba Fedeli, cized the move to introduce the amendment, saying it con- while conducting research for her PhD. BIRMINGHAM: A university assistant shows fragments of an old Quran at the University of Birmingham stitutes a violation of the constitution. He said in a state- Continued on Page 13 yesterday. — AP ment that the move to make the amendment through Continued on Page 13 News Saudis seek US reassurance on Iran deal in brief JEDDAH: Saudi leaders yesterday sought Washington, their traditional defence reassurance from US Defence Secretary partner. “Both the king and the minister Bid to steal Kuwait Ashton Carter over a deal curbing Iran’s reiterated their support of the Iranian cash in Paris foiled nuclear program in exchange for an eas- nuclear deal,” Carter told reporters PARIS: Kuwait’s health attache in France said an armed ing of economic sanctions. Carter held aboard his plane. attack on a car transferring money from the bank to talks in the Red Sea city of Jeddah with During the discussion with the king, Kuwait’s health bureau in Paris was foiled yesterday, King Salman and his powerful son, “the only reservations we discussed were reported Al-Anbaa daily. No injuries were reported, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin ones that we thoroughly share, mainly while the gunman was arrested. Salman, who is defence minister and sec- that we attend to verification of the ond-in-line to the throne. Carter arrived agreement as it is implemented”, Carter as part of a tour of the Middle East trying said after the Saudi visit lasting about Chattanooga shooter to allay the concerns of US allies that four hours. Under a so-called “snapback” acted alone, says FBI Iran, made wealthier under the deal, will mechanism, sanctions can be reinstated CHICAGO: The man who killed five US troops in be more able to support its regional if world powers feel Iran has not met its Tennessee was acting alone, the FBI said yesterday, proxies. commitments under the Vienna agree- adding it is too early to tell if he was “radicalized” or Despite the agreement reached this ment. Riyadh and its neighbors accuse motivated by mental illness. Four US marines and a month between Tehran and six major their Shiite regional rival of meddling in sailor were killed after Mohammad Youssuf powers led by Washington, Gulf states Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. Anwar Abdulazeez, 24, opened fire on two military centers also worry Iran could still be able to Eshki, chairman of the Jeddah-based JEDDAH: US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter meets Saudi King Salman at Al- in Chattanooga before dying in a shootout with develop an atomic weapon. They are Centre for Strategic and Legal Studies, Salam Palace yesterday. — AFP police Thursday. Authorities have said they are wary of the overtures to Tehran by Continued on Page 13 treating the case - reminiscent of other shooting rampages at US military installations - as an “act of terrorism”. “At this time we are treating him as a Qaeda chief Fadhli ‘Final’ plan to shut Gitmo homegrown violent extremist,” FBI special agent Ed Reinhold told reporters. “We believe he acted on killed in US strike WASHINGTON: The White House is in the “final thing that our national security officials have been his own on that day.” Nearly 1,000 FBI agents are stages” of a plan to close the Guantanamo Bay working on for quite some time, primarily because pursuing hundreds of leads as they try to under- WASHINGTON: A US-led coalition air previously targeted in a US air strike in detention facility, spokesman Josh Earnest said yes- it is a priority of the president.” stand what motivated Abdulazeez, a naturalized US strike earlier this month killed the September, but his death was not terday. US President Barack Obama made the clo- The closure of the center in Cuba is a national citizen who was born in Kuwait. Kuwaiti leader of an Al-Qaeda off- confirmed by US officials at the time. sure of the controversial offshore prison a priority security interest and its operation is not an effec- shoot in Syria that American officials Officials say Khorasan is part of Al- when he took office in 2009, but the plan has faced tive use of government resources, Earnest told accuse of plotting attacks against the Qaeda’s Syrian branch, Al-Nusra Front, numerous setbacks, including Congress blocking reporters. The US has slowly been sending prison- Gold prices slide to United States and its allies, the though experts and activists cast doubt the transfer of detainees to US prisons. ers back to their home countries or to third coun- weakest since 2010 Pentagon said. Muhsin Al-Fadhli was on the distinction between the two “The administration is in fact in the final stages tries, something that needs to continue if the facili- LONDON: Gold fell more than 1 percent to a five-year killed in a “kinetic strike” on July 8 groups. In a September interview, US of drafting a plan to safely and responsibly (close) ty is to shut, Earnest said. Just under half of the while traveling in a vehicle near the President Barack Obama listed the prison at Guantanamo Bay and to present that detainees remaining have been cleared to leave low yesterday as a bounce in the dollar fuelled down- northwestern Syrian town of Khorasan among “immediate threats to to Congress,” Earnest said. “That has been some- but have yet to be resettled or repatriated. — AFP side momentum, with investors continuing to pull away Sarmada, said Captain Jeff Davis, a the United States,” warning that “those from the metal after its dramatic slide earlier this week. Pentagon spokesman. He did not con- folks could kill Americans”. The US State A looming rise in US interest rates, the first in nearly a firm whether a drone or a manned air- Department had posted a $7 million decade, has dented gold’s investment appeal, encour- craft had killed Fadhli, 34. reward for information leading to UAE to scrap fuel subsidies aging more sellers in the market after Monday’s 3 per- Fadhli was allegedly Fadhli’s death or detention. cent rout, its biggest one-day drop since Sept 2013. the leader of the Khorasan He was wanted by law DUBAI: Leading oil producer the retails at 50 US cents a litre ($2.27 a alternatives like electric cars. He Holdings in the world’s biggest gold-backed exchange- Group, a group of senior enforcement authorities in Al-Qaeda members who Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates will scrap gallon) and diesel at 64 cents said that in 2013, the transport sec- traded fund, SPDR Gold Shares, fell for a fourth day yes- subsidies on petrol and diesel from ($2.91).