Barrak told reporters after the session that the court should call Prime Minister HH Sheikh Jaber Al-Muabrak Al-Sabah to testify in the case because he had informed a delegation of former opposition MPs that the single-vote law did not serve the interests of Kuwait. The former lawmaker said that the prime minister had also told the delegation that “there was nothing he could do and advised us to go His Highness the Amir and that’s why we spoke directly to the Amir”.
Barrak is being tried on charges that he made remarks at a public rally deemed offensive to the Amir and undermined his status and authority. The court also refused another request by lawyers to invite a number of former opposition MPs to testify on what the prime minister had said. Barrak also said that he had requested the court to lift a ban on his travel because there is no fear that he will escape.
In a related development, opposition groups delayed for a second time the formation of a broad opposition coalition after a meeting at the residence of former MP Mohammad Al-Khalifa that continued until late on Sunday night. The meeting was preceded by another opposition meeting that included trade unions and student organizations and a number of former MPs to discuss the same issue amid reports that the opposition is not entirely united about what should be done in the coming period.
Khalifa however said that the opposition has decided to hold its next meeting on Sunday to announce the names of the politburo of the proposed coalition. Barrak also said that the meeting discussed intensely a paper presented by a preparatory committee formed last week and it was decided to give more time for various groups and trade unions to submit their viewpoints by today to be integrated and discussed next Sunday.
In Assembly news, seven MPs announced yesterday the formation of a new bloc called the Future Bloc consisting of MPs Ahmad Al-Mulaifi, Saleh Ashour, Khalil Al-Saleh, Nawaf Al-Fuzai, Abdullah Al-Tameemi, Yacoub Al-Sane and Hisham Al-Baghli. The foreign relations committee meanwhile approved the Arab treaty for combating organized crime, the Arab anti-corruption agreement and the Arab anti-money laundering agreement.
Meanwhile, several MPs criticized Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali for being uncooperative over the issue of writing off the interest on loans ahead of a crucial meeting over the issue today. MP Ahmad Lari said that Shamali has magnified the cost of the process which was put at around KD 2 billion in a report sent to the financial and economic affairs committee. The Assembly last week agreed to postpone the debate over a draft law calling for waiving interest on all loans between Jan 1, 2002 and April 1, 2008 in order to provide the government time to prepare its opinion on the sensitive issue.
