The rally, in which hundreds of Shiite activists including Kuwaitis, Bahrainis, Lebanese and Iranians took part, caused uproar in the state because Mughniyah was accused of hijacking a Kuwaiti plane two decades ago. Reactions to the protest have taken a sectarian turn in Kuwait, where a third of the native population of one million are Shiites.
Two Kuwaiti lawmakers who attended the rally, Adnan Abdulsamad and Ahmad Lari, and a number of leading Shiite activists are being sued by four lawyers and the interior minister in connection with the protest. Three leading activists have been remanded in custody and are being questioned on suspicion of belonging to "Hezbollah Kuwait", a previously unknown organisation.
The prosecution service also plans to interrogate others including former MPs and a member in the municipal council on the same charges. Abdulsamad and Lari cannot be interrogated unless the National Assembly strips them of their immunity, however. Mughniyah, who was killed last month by a car bomb in Damascus, was described at the rally as a "martyr hero", but Kuwait says he was responsible for killing two Kuwaiti passengers on a hijacked plane in 1988.
Meanwhile, National Assembly Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi yesterday issued a passionate appeal for calm and wisdom over the crisis resulting from the mourning rally, while the two under-fire MPs Abdulsamad and Lari returned to the Assembly for the first time after the rally. Khorafi said that what has been happening in the country in the past few months and the ongoing crisis made him suspect that "there are hidden hands trying to sow rifts in the country". "After failing to undermine our national unity from
outside, it seems there are people who are working to do this from within," said the speaker, who added that he is pained and saddened by the turn of events.
Khorafi said that calls to strip the two MPs and some other Kuwaitis of their nationality and prevent Abdulsamad and Lari from entering parliament "are unacceptable and defy laws and the constitution". "We are a country of institutions and law and citizenship given by birth cannot be withdrawn," the speaker said. "If a mistake was committed, we should allow the law and legal procedure to take their course," he added. "Why should there be chaos, rifts and the media campaigns?
He said that he will not allow the issue of mourning to be debated in tomorrow’s session and that he has instructed the Assembly security to prevent any protests or chaos by anyone. Khorafi said that tomorrow’s session, the first after a 40-day break, will discuss the usual topics on the agenda and that he will not allow other issues. Asked if MPs submit a request for a debate, Khorafi said that this will happen only if 10 MPs file the request and the Assembly approves it, but "from what I have seen, a maj
ority of MPs are not interested". The speaker also criticized what he called "the exaggerated reaction to the mourning rally". "If what happened was a mistake, we should not commit a sin," he said.
MPs Abdulsamad and Lari returned yesterday to the Assembly for the first time after the rally and went about doing their normal business. The two refused to make any comments on the rally or the media campaign against them, but Abdulsamd said that he fully agrees with what Khorafi said. The two MPs attended committee meetings that were scheduled and also met with some other MPs and the speaker.
The public prosecution meanwhile continued its interrogation yesterday of three people who took part in the rally. It ordered that they should remain in custody until tomorrow when their case will be reviewed. The prosecution also summoned six new people including former MPs Abdulmohsen Jamal and Nasser Sorkhouh and municipal council member Fadhel Safar.
The six men had earlier refused summons by the state security agency, saying they would only go straight to the public prosecution. It was not immediately known whether they will be questioned tomorrow. Jamal, speaking at a seminar yesterday, said that the public prosecution accused the three men under interrogation of being members of "Hezbollah Kuwait" and of attempting to overthrow the government of Kuwait.
He said the accusations against Kuwaiti Shiites now are similar to accusations made against them in the 1980s at the height of the Iraq-Iran war. He also said that they were asked if they "liked the rule of the Al-Sabah family and what would be their position if Israel strikes Iran". "This is simply an attempt to cast doubt on their national loyalty. There are people here who benefit only when our national unity is undermined," he said. "What is happening now is demolishing the future of the country. Danger is not from outside of the country. It is from within," said Jamal, a former three-time MP.
