Mohammed Hayef Al-Mutairi

MOHAMMED HAYEF AL-MUTAIRI was born in 1964. He holds a Master’s degree in Islamic Studies and has worked at the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs as imam and preacher.

He was also Chairman of the Firdous Zakat and Charity Committee. He is also a member of the Kuwait Islamic Heritage Society.

Al-Mutairi became Member of Parliament in 2008 and 2009 and the 2012 Annulled Parliament. In the 2016 election, he won third place with 4,506 votes ahead of his rival Saad Ali Al-Rasheedi who got 3,811 votes. In the current Parliament he has been elected member of Legal and Legislative, Human Rights and Negative Phenomenon committees. In the previous Parliament, he was elected to the Interior and Defense, Negative Phenomenon and Human Rights committees.

In the National Assembly, Al-Mutairi affiliates with the Islamist and Salafi MPs and is one of the main opposition figures who boycotted two general elections in 2012 and 2013 in protest at a change in the voting system brought unilaterally by the government.

On June 1, 2008, Al-Mutairi joined his colleagues, Waleed Al-Tabtabaei, Jama’an Al-Harbash, and six other MPs and walked out during the swearing-in ceremony in protest because ministers Modhi Al-Hamoud and Nouria Al-Subaih — the two new female Cabinet ministers — were not wearing headscarves. Al-Mutairi said that the two female ministers “did not abide by the Sharia law.”

Once, as chairman of the Negative Phenomena Committee, Al-Mutairi led the committee in discussing ways to eliminate negative activities in cafés like smoking ‘shisha’ (water pipe). Commenting on the issue he said smoking ‘shisha’ is prevalent in most Kuwaiti cafés, indicating this is common in the Middle East in spite of the fact that it is more dangerous than cigarettes.

He warned smoking ‘shisha’ once is equivalent to smoking 20 cigarettes, so it poses a grave threat to people’s health. “According to global reports, smoking cigarettes kills around five million people a year compared to about 250,000 people who die in car accidents. Since ‘shisha’ is 20 times more harmful than cigarettes, this habit claims more lives per year,” Al-Mutairi added.

He urged the Cabinet to stop cafés from offering ‘shisha’ to costumers especially since it also contributes to spreading diseases.

On one occasion, Al-Mutairi condemned liberal powers for attempting to halt the enforcement of modest dress code regulations on female students at the Kuwait University (KU) and the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET).

He said these regulations were modified “after the appearance of negative phenomena in the Kuwaiti society”, pertaining to Kuwaiti women’s manner of clothing. He added the proposed regulation did not even fully abide by the Islamic dress code as it only provided regulations for women to cover their ankles and wear long sleeves.

Statements

Al-Mutairi

Speaking on the issue of reinstating citizenships revoked by the

Amendment of Cooperative Societies Law, (2012), approved

Settlement Decree with Iraqi Airways, (2012), approved

Amendment to Penal Code – Death Penalty for Blasphemy (2012), approved

Amendment to Pre-Trial Detention Law (2012), rejected

Amendment to Public Tenders Law (2012), approved

Postponement of former PM’s grilling request by Ahmed Al-Saadoun and Abdulrahman Al-Anjari (2011), absent

Referral of Adel Al-Sarawi and Marzooq Al-Ghanim’s grilling request against former development & economic Affairs minister, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Fahd Al-Sabah to Legal & Legislative Committee. (2011), approved

Removal of former PM’s grilling request by Ahmed Al-Saadoun and Abdulrahman Al-Anjari from agenda (2011), withdrew No-confidence against former PM by Waleed Al-Tabtabaei, Mohammed Hayef and Mubarak Al-Walaan (2011), approved

Re-voting on teacher bonuses law (2011), approved

Holy Quran authority (2011), approved State budget (2011), rejected No-confidence against former Information Minister, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Abdullah by Ali Al-Deqbasi (2010), approved

No-confidence against former PM by Faisal Al-Muslim (2010), approved

No-confidence against former PM by Al-Barrak, Saleh Al-Mulla, Jama’an Al-Harbash (2010), approved

Re-vamping of KPC (2010), approved

Loan interest removal law (2010), approved

Proposal to re-vote on loan interest removal law (2010), absent

Loan defaulters fund (2010), rejected

Development approved Privatization (2010), rejected Transferring of Investigations Department from Interior Minister to Public Prosecution (2010), approved

No-confidence against former Interior Minister, Sheikh Jaber Al-Khaled Al-Sabah by Musallam Al-Barrack (2009), approved

Private Sector Labour Law (2009), approved.

Plan

(2010),

government for political reasons, Hayef stressed that the period in which citizenships were revoked has ended and the citizenships must be returned in order to strengthen the internal front.

He said that tension over the revoked citizenships must be defused, “otherwise we will be compelled to grill.” He added, the Kuwaiti people know that citizenships were revoked because of a political struggle and this is unjust.

Al-Mutairi, who is a member of the opposition, once said the executive authority is still neglecting its role in maintaining security as a true GCC country.

“Professors of the ethics committee should seek to maintain the Islamic identity through modest dress codes as well as prevent excessive make-up that has no place in an educational environment,” the MP advised.

The principles of Islamic Sharia were not enforced within the National Assembly because liberals have been following the government ways.

“The government has been creating confusion on Islamic identity in order to undermine the status of the legislative authority and escape the people’s demands to dissolve the Cabinet and remove its prime minister.”