The Kuwaiti cabinet yesterday issued a "final warning" to leading Shiite cleric Syed Mohammad Baqer Al Muhri against violating "mosque code of conduct" in his Friday sermons, local newspapers reported. Al Rai Al Aam, a Kuwaiti daily quoted unnamed government sources as saying that the warning was issued after Abdullah Al Maatouq, Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Minister, submitted a report to the cabinet during its weekly meeting on Sunday in which he accused Al Muhri of touching on sensitive political issues in his sermons. The minister told the cabinet that during last Friday's sermon, Al Muhri, head of the Shiite Clerics Congregation, spoke about the controversial issue of political rights of women and criticised the head of Egypt's Al Azhar Islamic University for not condemning a suicide attack on Shiites in Iraq last week. The ministry of Awqaf last week ordered all mosque preachers to avoid talking about women's political rights because it is a controversial issue, after several Islamist activists used mosque sermons to criticise the drive for women's suffrage. But Al Muhri told the Kuwaiti daily that he has not received the warning from the ministry and said the government has no right to interfere in the affairs of Shiite-run mosques. "Shiite mosques do not come under the Ministry of Awqaf. They were built with our money. We are responsible for maintenance work and pay to employees of the mosque. No one in the Ministry of Awqaf can stop us from giving sermons," Al Muhri said.