Barrak to Remain in Jail After Courtroom Drama
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SUBSCRIPTION TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 2015 JAMADA ALTHANI 25, 1436 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Author talks Clinton’s Kim, Kanye Spieth takes about her decision: Long in Jerusalem first major experiences road to second to baptize with historic in Palestine5 campaign14 daughter39 Masters17 win Barrak to remain in jail Min 18º Max 28º after courtroom drama High Tide 08:10 & 19:05 Education minister under fire for ‘racist’ remarks Low Tide 01:05 & 13:20 40 PAGES NO: 16490 150 FILS By B Izzak conspiracy theories KUWAIT: The court of cassation, Kuwait’s highest court whose rulings are final, yesterday rejected pleas to And greed goes on release opposition leader Musallam Al-Barrak, who is serving a two-year jail term for insulting HH the Amir. In a jam-packed courtroom, the defense team of Barrak pleaded with presiding judge Salem Al-Khader to free the former lawmaker who has been in jail for the past 45 days until the court issues its ruling. By Badrya Darwish Barrak was brought into the courtroom by masked and armed elite troops handcuffed and placed in a cage. As soon as he entered the room, his supporters gave him a loud applause that is rarely allowed in Kuwaiti courts. The defense told the judge that Barrak is [email protected] a well-known figure and he is not going to escape, and accordingly they requested the judge to release him until a verdict is issued. omestic helper visas have been an issue in Following brief deliberations by the judges, news Kuwait for many years, and when at last we came that they had decided to free Barrak on a KD 5,000 Dheard good news that the parliament was bail. Dozens of supporters who were awaiting the deci- supporting a bill to reform the system, we were sion outside the court hall immediately broke into jubi- delighted. The idea was to form a company 25 per- lation. They loudly cheered the decision and began cent owned by the Kuwait Investment Authority, 25 chanting “Oh Musallam, you are the conscience of the percent by the pension fund and the rest by the people” and left the Palace of Justice, only to be disap- public. pointed a few minutes later that the news was incorrect. This would have stopped the greed of the maid Khaled Al-Hajeri, one of several lawyers defending agencies which has reached unacceptable levels. In Barrak, apologized on his Twitter account for the error. A the past, to recruit a domestic servant - be it a driv- large number of politicians and activists welcomed the er, maid, nanny, cook or gardener - it wouldn’t “release” of Barrak before the actual verdict was exceed KD 350 to KD 400. Filipinos would cost more, announced. The court however set April 20 a date for like KD 450 or KD 500. Don’t ask me why that was the next hearing, a very close date. Lawyers will again Saudi soldiers fire artillery shells towards Yemen from a post close to the Saudi-Yemeni border in south- try to get Barrak out of the jail then. the case - I’m not here to discuss this discrimination western Saudi Arabia yesterday. — AFP (See Page 8) at the moment. Continued on Page 13 Now, to recruit a Filipina housemaid you have to pay nearly KD 1,000. And I was told by many helpers that they also have to pay the agent in the Ports chief vows to tackle violations Philippines at least two months’ salary once they get the job, or they will not be selected for jobs in the Gulf. Imagine! What do you call this? Isn’t this Combating corruption, absenteeism and land grabs a priority human trafficking? And if you aren’t happy with the By Nawara Fattahova founded to manage and operate com- worker and return her to the recruitment agency, mercial marine ports including small, big, they will be more than happy because they will sell KUWAIT: In an unusual move, the new fishing and passengers ships,” he noted. her again and take another KD 1,000, and it goes on director of the Kuwait Ports Authority “On the first day when I visited the and on. held a press conference yesterday to Audit Bureau, it provided me with 108 So may I know why the government represented directly address allegations of corruption pages detailing various violations, which by KIA and the Interior Ministry rejected the propos- and mismanagement. Sheikh Yousef Al- was our starting point. One of the most al? Do they have an alternate plan? Or will employ- Abdullah Al-Sabah, who was appointed serious problems that we face is absen- ers and employees keep suffering and be sucked three weeks ago, discussed with the teeism among employees that even dry by the recruiting agencies? press several issues including the illegal reaches 90 percent. We also have decay- The whole system is corrupt and unjust. And occupation of KPA land and the body’s ing utilities and harbors, and mixing of when there was a light, it was snuffed out without efforts to combat corruption and absen- responsibilities with the Ministry of clear reasoning. There are so many other things to teeism. Commerce and the Public Authority for criticize about maid recruitment. I can write a book “We won’t hide any corruption, and Industry. In fact, some of the dilapidated about it. Because the poor soul, even if we choose will let people know about the proce- utilities are not under KPA’s responsibili- her, doesn’t have the right to say yes or no. But this dures we will take to correct past mis- ty, and we will solve this problem and is another issue, and I’m jumping away from the takes. KPA is the first and main gateway return these properties,” stressed Sheikh recruiting greed. KUWAIT: Director of Kuwait Ports Authority Sheikh Yousef Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah to receive imported goods from all over Yousef. holds a press conference yesterday. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat the world. It is an independent body Continued on Page 13 German literary lion News Guenter Grass dies in brief Laborers torch cars BERLIN: Germany’s Nobel-winning the rise of Nazism in his city of birth, in rare UAE protest author, Guenter Grass, who acted as a Danzig, now Gdansk in Poland. He DUBAI: Newspapers in the United Arab Emirates said moral compass for many in the postwar pressed Germany for decades to face up migrant laborers set multiple vehicles on fire during a nation but later provoked criticism over to its Nazi past, winning the Nobel Prize weekend protest at a construction site in the north of his own World War II past, died yesterday for Literature in 1999, when the Swedish the country following the death of one of their co-work- aged 87, his publishers said. The writer, Academy said his “frolicsome black fables ers. The National and Khaleej Times dailies were among one of Germany’s most influential if con- portray the forgotten face of history”. the papers that reported the incident yesterday. They troversial intellectual figures, died in a Chancellor Angela Merkel led tributes say the protest happened Saturday in the northern emi- hospital in the northern city of Luebeck, to Grass, who was also a poet, playwright rate of Ras Al-Khaimah after a worker fell to his death the Steidl publishing house said. Grass and sculptor, and was often seen puffing from the fifth floor of a building under construction. achieved world fame with his debut and on his pipe, sporting his trademark wal- Police say the death was an apparent suicide. Electrical best-known novel “The Tin Drum” in rus moustache. Merkel said Grass had generators and fuel tanks were also torched in the 1959, quickly followed by “Cat and “accompanied and shaped Germany’s protest. No injuries were reported. The Emirates is home TEHRAN: An Iranian woman holds up a portrait of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Mouse” and “Dog Years”, all dealing with post-war history with his artistic as well to millions of low-paid migrant laborers. A group of Khamenei during a protest against the Saudi-led coalition strikes on Yemen in as his social and political engagement South Asian workers last month staged a rare protest in front of the Saudi Embassy yesterday. — AP like only a few”, according to her Dubai over a pay dispute. spokesman. But Grass also shocked his Iran halts Saudi pilgrimages admirers and provoked an outcry in 2006 Turing notebook sells when he revealed, six decades after for $1m in New York World War II, that he had been called up NEW YORK: A long-lost notebook owned by British Russia lifts ban on Iran missile sales into Hitler’s notorious Waffen SS at the mathematician and World War II code breaker Alan age of 17. TEHRAN/MOSCOW: Iran suspended all been damaged and a public demand has Turing sold at auction in New York yesterday for $1 He put his more than 60-year silence umrah pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia yes- formed,” the minister said. Jannati said million, Bonhams auction house said. The sale of the over his Waffen SS conscription down to terday amid growing diplomatic tensions the Saudi authorities had arrested the recently discovered notebook comes at a time of a sense of “shame” and said he wanted to between the two countries, state televi- two police officers at the centre of the enormous interest in Turing’s life and work generat- use his memoirs to fully explain his past. sion reported.