ARAb StAtES diSMAyEd At WESt'S cOMPlAcENcy - Kuwait Times

SATURDAY, MAY 4, 2013
Merging project
KUWAIT: Sources said Kuwait Fire Service Directorate
approved the merging project with the Interior Ministry
under the name Public Authority for Civil Defence. The
sources said there will be several meetings and sessions
with concerned authorities to implement the merger and
declare it.
Meanwhile the Fire Service approved the project to link
all departments with fiber optics, because it will be easy to
communicate and transfer data between all departments
and centers. —Al-Shahed
Arab media experts
meet in Tunis
TUNIS: Arab media experts entrusted with setting out Arab
media development mechanisms convened here on Thursday.
Advisor at the Kuwaiti Ministry of Information Khaled Al-
Khalfan is attending the three-day meeting, which discusses how
to put in place the Arab media charter and a media strategy. The
agenda also includes suggestions for effective mechanisms for
monitoring and assessing the Arab media performance and
acceptance, cancellation and suspension of the membership of
Arab federations and organizations.
The conferees are expected to come up with a vision for
enabling Arab mass media to deliver their basic message for the
Arab world and its essential issues. —KUNA
Kuwait to negotiate
with Dow on fine
KUWAIT: A delegation from the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation is
expected to hold talks either tomorrow (Sunday) or on Monday
with Dow Chemicals officials in the United States regarding a $2.5
billion fine the Gulf state is required to pay for canceling a project
with the American company a few years ago, a local daily reported
yesterday quoting sources with knowledge of the case.
Dow Chemical had won last year an international court
order stipulating that the Petrochemical Industries Company, a
wholly owned subsidiary of KPC, pay the fine for canceling a
contract to establish a $7.4 billion joint venture project. The
Kuwaiti government had called off the deal to establish K-Dow
Petrochemicals late 2008 under pressure from the parliament,
prompting Dow Chemical to sue for damages as per a penalty
clause in the contract.
The sources who spoke to Al-Rai on the condition of anonymity
said that the delegations includes KPC CEO Farouq Al-Zanki,
PIC CEO and Managing Director Maha Husain, KPC Managing
Director for Legal Affairs Sheikh Nawaf Al-Sabah and KPC
Managing Director for Financial Affairs Ali Al-Hajri. The team is
given authority to seek quittance “according to the best available
solutions”, the sources said. They also expressed optimism about
the team’s chances of reaching a deal by which the amount of
the fine could be reduced.
In other news, a parliamentary committee probing alleged
violations in hiring and promotion decisions carried out in the
KPC has reportedly found evidence of misconduct. “Our investigations
confirm that manipulation had happened and that several
of the complaining employees were subjected to injustice”,
said parliament’s petitions and complaint committee Essam Al-
Dabous. The committee is expected to release its report during a
press conference tomorrow containing a recommendation based
on which the parliament can vote to waive the promotions.
Separately, Al-Jarida reported yesterday that the Public
Prosecution started summoning former Ministry of Social
Affairs and Labor officials for investigations in a case filed by
minister Thekra Al-Rashidi regarding suspected violations in a
deal with a car rental company. According to sources familiar
with the ongoing investigations, there are five officials suspected
to be involved in violations which led to around KD 5
million in losses. — Al-Rai & Al-Jarida
KUWAIT: The Kuwait Trade Union
Federation became the latest group to condemn
the Interior Ministry’s step of deporting
expatriates for committing ‘grave’ traffic
violations, and opened the door for foreigners
affected by such stipulations to file complaints.“Deporting
expatriate labor forces
for traffic violations is an individual act on
the Interior Ministry’s part”, said KTUF
President Fayez Al-Mutairi as quoted by Al-
Jarida daily yesterday. “We categorically
denounce such imprudent behaviors which
affect the fate of expatriate workers and
their families”.
Undersecretary Assistant for Traffic
Affairs Major General Abdulfattah Al-Ali had
announced last week that 213 expats were
deported for committing ‘grave’ traffic violations
since the Interior Ministry launched
campaigns late April. “Deporting an illegal
resident or a person who entered Kuwait
illegally is understandable, but a worker
who came to Kuwait legally and follows the
law should be most welcomed to stay”, Al-
Mutairi said during a press conference
Wednesday night.
He further urged any expatriate worker
“who becomes subjected to injustice as a
result of the Interior Ministry’s behavior to
local
Kuwaitis in Gitmo forced-fed
KUWAIT: An American delegation is
expected to arrive in Kuwait on May 30,
2013 in order to resume negotiations which
the Gulf state hopes would lead to the
release of its two remaining nationals in the
Guantanamo Bay prison, a local daily
reported yesterday quoting one of the prisoner’s
father.
Khalid Al-Odah, father of Fawzi Al-Odah
who along with Fayez Al-Kandari are last
Kuwaitis in Guantanamo out of 12 originally
held there, revealed in the meantime that
his son was hospitalized due to complications
of being forced-fed. At least 100
inmates have reportedly been on a hunger
strike to protest against being held without
KTUF denounce deportations,
welcomes expats’ complaints
charges or trial. “After the strike enter its
third month, the inmates had their rights
confiscated by being forced-fed with 8-
10mm wide tubes in a process resulting in
several health risks”, Al-Odah told Al-Rai.
According to an e-mail Al-Odah
received from his son’s lawyer, the prisoners
are being tied to chairs with their heads
set in a vertical base, before a tube is inserted
in their noses to pass food to their stomachs.
“The strike started in protest against
the behavior of new guards assigned at the
prison, which include provocative inspections
during which copies of the Holy
Quran were mistreated”, Al-Odah said. He
further urged the Kuwaiti government to
‘Violation of human rights’
“take more serious steps to put pressure on
the American administration for the release
of our children”. The US military confirmed
last week that 40 medical back up teams
arrived at the Guantanamo Bay to administer
treatment to keep the protesters alive,
and confirmed that 21 inmates are being
forced-fed. US President Barack Obama
revived on Tuesday a promise he had made
during his 2008 presidential elections campaign
to shut down the controversial
prison camp. In order for it to happen, this
decision needs to be approved by the
Congress where Republicans who have
majority in the House of Representatives
oppose such step.— Al-Rai
lodge a complaint at the expatriate labor
forces office in the KTUF”, vowing to “stand
by their side”.
The event organized to mark the Labor
Day was attended by Minister of Social
Affairs and Labor Thekra Al-Rashidi; who in
March announced a plan to deport 100,000
foreigners annually as part of the Gulf state’s
efforts to restore demographic balance.
Kuwait is home to around 2.6 million expatriates
who make up nearly two thirds of the
state’s total population of 3.8 million according
to official statistics. Details of the plan, by
which the government looks to deport a million
foreigners in ten years, are yet to be
revealed, but Al-Rashidi had previously hinted
that individuals to be targeted are chiefly
going to be ‘marginal labor forces’ or workers
who usually accept menial labor and
often stay in the country without valid visas.
Meanwhile, the Kuwaiti Association for Basic
Evaluators of Human Rights released a statement
calling the deportations an “exaggerated
penalty”, a “violation of human rights”,
an “unpractical solution for the traffic problem”
and “arbitrary use by deportation
authorities”. The association also warned
from the consequences of similar steps
which includes “hurting Kuwait’s international
reputation” and “making foreigners
lose the feeling of social security in Kuwait
when they find themselves facing the threat
of deportation at any moment”.
“Deportation sentences must be handed by
an independent authority which is the judiciary
in order for the government to avoid
being accused of committing injustice”,
reads the statement as published by Al-Rai
yesterday. The association also called for
clear definitions to explain the nature of the
grave violations “and their direct impact on
public safety”. This comes while a report
published by Al-Watan newspaper yesterday
indicated that 19 new expatriates could be
deported soon for committing violations
which warrant for deportation including
driving without a driver’s license, crossing
the red traffic light for a second time, using
private vehicles to carry passengers and
exceeding speed limits by 40 km. The report
which quotes sources with knowledge of the
case indicates that the Traffic General
Department sent the names of the 19 expats
to the Immigration Investigations General
Department, and that there are an additional
33 people currently held for investigations
on similar charges.
— Al-Jarida, Al-Rai & Al-Watan
Kuwait envoy attends graduation
of Islamic studies in Philippines
KUALA LUMPUR: Kuwait’s
Ambassador to the Philippines,
Waleed Al-Kandari, as special guest,
attended the commencement ceremony
yesterday of graduate students
of the Institute of Islamic Studies at
the University of the Philippines.
Ambassador Al-Kandari lauded
Philippines’ educational monument,
wishing the graduates all success and
best of luck in their future careers,
Kuwaiti Embassy in the Philippines
said in a statement to KUNA.
During the ceremony, which was
also attended by Secretary of the
Philippines National Commission on
Muslim Filipinos, Mehol Sadain, the
Kuwaiti Ambassador presented Prof
Julkipli Wadi, the Institute’s Dean, with
a commemorative wooden-made
Kuwaiti dhow, and took part in handing
symbolic gifts to graduates.
For his part, Prof Wadi, who also
presented Al-Kandari with a commemorative
shield, expressed his gratitude
and appreciation for the Kuwaiti
Ambassador’s attendance of the ceremony
and praised his efforts in
strengthening bilateral cultural cooperation.
— KUNA