Adel Al-Damkhi
ADEL AL-DAMKHI was born in 1965 and holds a PhD in Islamic Sharia. He was the chairman of Kuwait Association for Basic Elements of Human Rights and a former lawyer in Kuwait Municipality Council. He works as a preacher in the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Studies and a lecturer in Kuwait University .
He was a member of the annulled 2012 Parliament during which he took eighth place in the First Constituency with 8,090 votes while in the 2016 parliamentary elections he secured the fourth place with 2,758 votes. He was among the opposition figures who boycotted the 2013 parliamentary election.
In the 2012 Parliament, he was elected chairman of the Human Rights Committee and member of the Public Utilities, Bedoun Affairs, and Anti-Negative Phenomenon and Values Promotion committees.
Speaking to the press after filing his candidacy for the 2016 parliamentary election, Al-Damkhi stressed that participation in the election is necessary in order to confront many deviations and not to leave matters in the hands of those involved in corruption. He said those who boycotted the previous elections want to amend the Constitution. “We support this idea and I call on everyone to participate in the elections to prevent collapse of the Parliament,” he asserted. He claimed the previous legislature was very weak as evident in the intervention of HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah in reviewing the DNA Law.
In February 2012, Al-Damkhi and his colleague Waleed Al-Tabtabaie presented a proposal on forming a subcommittee to follow up the case of Kuwaiti Gitmo detainees Fayez Al-Kandari and Fauzi Al-Oudah. The subcommittee’s tasks included highlighting the issue, organizing related activities and contacting the American side.
He was a well-known rights activist before he was elected to the Assembly in February 2012. He is an independent Islamist MP, but seemingly inclined to Salafi Group. He is also a member of the so-called Group of 35 Opposition MPs who formed the majority in the 2012 Parliament.
He was among the seven-man coordination committee that the opposition group formed to deal with its priorities for that National Assembly term. Other committee members included MPs Jamaan Al-Harbash, Musallam Al-Barrak, Waleed AlTabtabaei, Ammar Al-Ajmi, Bader Al-Dahoom and Abdullatif AlAmeeri who represented various groups making up the opposition
This came during a meeting in which the opposition also agreed to submit a proposal to form two parliamentary committees to probe into the corruption scandal involving former MPs and allegations that HH Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah transferred public funds into his private foreign bank accounts.
On Aug 9, 2011, as a human rights activist, Al-Damkhi along with several other members of the Parliament and influential Islamists took part in the protest attended by about 2,000 people in front of the Syrian Embassy in the outskirts of Kuwait City. The protesters aimed to put pressure on the Kuwaiti government to expel the Syrian ambassador in protest against the Syrian regime’s tracking down of its people for staging peaceful protest.
He said the Kuwaiti government allowed the protest to take place “because they want the ambassador to hear the Kuwaiti people”, adding “The Islamists were the first to come up with the idea of bringing the Gulf together on this issue.”
The Kuwaiti protest was organized by the Gulf Cooperation Council Group for Solidarity with the Syrian People. Al-Damkhi, who is a member of the group, said majority of the organization’s members are Islamists, including MPs and experts in Sharia, the Ulama.
In his capacity as head of the Parliament’s Human Rights Committee at the time, Al-Damkhi led committee members Waleed Al-Tabtabaei, Mohammed Hayef and Faisal Al-Yahya in visiting the Central Prison
to personally assess its standards and condition. He confirmed that the delegation presented their comments, noting the “good treatment of prisoners by the prison’s administration.”
He said the delegation met Bedoun prisoners who were released shortly before the prison visit and listened to their narrative on their experiences in prison. “The delegation also visited writer Mohammed Al-Mulaifi who complained of mistreatment during his transfer from prison to court. The committee will investigate the complaint as any attack on people’s dignity is unacceptable,” he added, asserting the bill on prison organization will be presented after the visit.
Prior to the visit, Al-Damkhi spoke to the press stressing that he will visit prisoners at the Central Jail to look into their situation before embarking on a number of resolutions and draft laws. He said at the time that the committee’s visit will include writer Mohammad AlMulaifi who has been in police custody for 21 days pending trial as he was accused of writing derogatory remarks about Shiites. Al-Mulaifi faced State security charges such as attempting to dismantle the basic foundations of society and disparaging a certain sect — actions that could trigger social rifts. The writer denied the charges, saying he only wrote an analysis on the Shiites’ performance in the general elections and how various Shiite groups behaved in the Feb 2 parliamentary polls.
He revealed then that the committee’s top priorities include establishment of an independent authority for human rights and a draft law on domestic helpers which will be expedited for the benefit of household workers and families. He also unveiled the panel’s plan to raise the issue of Bedoun detainees after checking their situation in the Central Jail.
He told reporters that the Iranian ambassador to Kuwait will be invited to the committee meeting to discuss the fate of missing Kuwaitis Husain Al-Fadhalah and Abdulhameed Shaheen believed to be held in Iran.
He affirmed as well that the panel will follow up the cases of two Kuwaiti detainees at Guantanamo Bay — Fouzi Al-Odah and Fayez Al-Kandari.
Statement
On the formation of the new Cabinet, Al-Damkhi urged His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah not to underestimate the role of independent lawmakers to ensure that all political factions are well represented in the government.
On Dec 19, 2011, Al-Damkhi expressed deep concern for what he considered as repressive actions against Bedouns. He outrightly rejected the use of violence in dealing with those who participated in peaceful demonstrations. “The action of security forces in Taima, Jahra is regarded as grave violation of the human rights of unarmed Bedoun civilian Bedouns who only wanted to air their grievances. The scene in Taima hurt all of us, especially the children’s exposure to tear gas. It is better to let them voice out their views on the oppression and deprivation they have been suffering for decades and leave them in peace as long as they hold peaceful protests,” he said.
He called on the security authorities to respect the Constitution which does not discriminate based on nationality and grants everyone the right to express their opinion provided it is done in a peaceful manner. He expressed dismay over some security leaders who insisted on the use of violence and unjustifiable repression, ignoring the rights of humans enshrined in the Sharia Law before any constitution.
He urged the government to quickly resolve the Bedoun issue on humanitarian grounds before the security institutions commit more serious violations, cause international aggravation and embarrass Kuwait.