Prosecution preparing warrants to arrest convicted ‘stormers’
‘Only one convict has surrendered’
KUWAIT CITY, July 10: Public Prosecution has started preparing warrants for arresting those who are convicted in the case of storming of the National Assembly building via Interpol in order to execute the verdict issued by the Court of Cassation, reports Al-Qabas daily quoting informed sources.
They revealed that only one defendant — Rashed Al-Enzi — surrendered himself at Faiha Police Station.
Meanwhile, security sources stressed that Ministry of Interior has formed a special team to arrest the convicted individuals.
They said investigations reveal that only three of these individuals are in Kuwait while the rest are overseas.
In this regard, Al-Anba daily reported that the Head of Kuwait Lawyers Society Muhannad Talal Al-Sayer said the society is studying the verdicts of Cassation in the case of storming of the National Assembly building, since the verdicts varied from refraining from punishment, imprisonment to acquittal.
He affirmed that the study being conducted by the society includes an explanation of the verdicts and a search of the mechanism for dealing with the verdicts as well as working on finding positive solutions to get out of the crisis.
Al-Sayer indicated the incident of storming the National Assembly building was part of the political movement against corruption which ended with the resignation of the then Prime Minister.
He stressed that he believes in the good intention of the patriot youth and their sincere desire for bringing about reform.
Al-Sayer said the society upholds the parliamentary opinions of a number of former and current MPs that call for the issuance of a public amnesty law that is in line with articles 66 and 75 of the Kuwaiti Constitution.
He affirmed that Kuwait Lawyers Society supports the initiative of private amnesty law, calling upon civil society and human rights organizations to support the initiative that aims at national unity and social reconciliation.
Furthermore, Islamic Constitutional Movement (ICM) has issued a statement concerning the verdict in the lawsuit of storming of National Assembly building, revealing that it was hoping all the defendants in the case would be acquitted but that it is happy that many among them have been acquitted.
It revealed that the verdicts are painful, especially considering the lack of criminal intention of the defendants.
ICM affirmed its support for those convicted, stressing that the incident was part of the popular movement targeting the spread of corruption and use of public funds for achieving political gains.
It insisted that this situation can be rectified through a public amnesty.
In addition, the Popular Labor Movement issued a statement, explaining that the storming of the National Assembly building was in response to popular demands for confronting corruption, which led youth and reformseeking MPs to rush to the streets and head to the National Assembly in a peaceful manner. They were expressing their desire for the eradication of corruption particularly over the scandal of multi-million dinar bank deposits.
The movement said the irony in the situation is that patriot youth have been sentenced to imprisonment and are forced to leave their country while the corrupt are free under the eyes of the authorities.
It highlighted the differences between the verdicts which started with acquittal of all the defendants by the Court of First Instance, stressing that this verdict represented an accurate image of justice. However, it was followed by a contradicting verdict issued by Court of Appeals which sentenced the defendants to up to nine-year imprisonment, followed by the final verdict issued by the Court of Cassation.