Kuwait working to free student detained in US

KUWAIT: Kuwait’s Embassy in the US, the ambassador and the embassy lawyer are closely following the case of a Kuwaiti student who is currently detained at a US prison, high-ranking sources at the foreign ministry stressed. Nayef Al-Rasheedi could possibly face a nine-year prison sentence for having some images and videos on his mobile phone that were deemed by US authorities as ‘suspicious’. The sources added that serious attempts are underway to reduce Rasheedi’s sentence or have him released under guarantees from the embassy.

The sources urged all Kuwaitis travelling to the US or other countries not to have any suspicious images or videos on their mobile phones in order to avoid legal accountability, especially since many countries are under threat from terrorist groups. Earlier, bloggers had urged the foreign ministry to intervene in solving the problem and have the Kuwaiti student released, reminding that he is only 19 and has been in prison for five months now.

Health insurance

The Ministry of Educaiton (MoE) has not paid its expat employees’ health insurance to the health ministry for seven months, from January till the end of August 2016, said the assistant undersecretary for financial affairs Yousef Al-Najjar. Najjar urged MoH undersecretary Khaled Al-Sahlawi to provide him with the overdue sums to pay them. Separately, and on instructions from Education Minister Bader Al-Essa to amend Arabic curricula to tackle students’ weakness in learning Arabic, MoE’s public education sector approved including stories and novels in Arabic curriculums in intermediate and secondary schools. MoE also asked the fatwa and legislation department to review a related tender and report back with any remarks.

Sports complex

The Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET) yesterday announced that its sports complex would open by Nov 6 under the auspices of Minister of Information and Minister of State for Youth Affairs Sheikh Salman AlHmoud Al-Sabah.

PAAET’s students’ affairs dean Dr Hussein Al-Mukaimi said the complex includes a main football stadium with a capacity of 8,000 fans, multipurpose courts and an Olympic-sized swimming complex, which would enable the complex to host several championships.