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| Arabia |
| Kuwait asks Interpol to arrest Shiite cleric |
| 2010-09-24 |
| [Al Arabiya] The Kuwait government asked Interpol to arrest and hand over an exiled Shiite man after it had stripped him of citizenship after remarks he made about prominent Islamic figures, Kuwait's Al-Anba newspaper reported. Kuwait resorted to the Interpol one day after issuing a resolution to withdraw the Kuwaiti citizenship from Yasser Habib, who made derogatory statements about Aisha, Prophet Mohamed's wife and several of the prophet's companions, the rding to the newspaper reported on Tuesday. The Kuwait government said it revoked Habib's citizenship because he holds a British passport, something it described as against the laws of Kuwait. The decision was welcomed by Kuwaitis inside and outside the country. It did not mention the move had anything to do with Habib's statements against the prophet's wife. If arrested, Habib would face charges of "deriding religious symbols and sowing the seeds of sedition among Kuwaitis, and inciting sectarian strife," said Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Rawdan al-Rawdan in a statement. Kuwaiti Minister of Interior Sheikh Jaber al-Khaled gave to the cabinet meeting a detailed account of the procedures taken by his ministry to make sure Habib is brought to trial for his perceived offences against Islam. Khaled added that several court rulings were previously issued against Habib after being found guilty of inciting social instability and harming the country's national interests. "We resorted to Interpol based on a request from Kuwait's general prosecutor to bring Habib to justice in Kuwait," he told the cabinet. Regarding the British passport, Khaled pointed out that Habib has been using it all the time in his travels and that he himself admitted to doing that. "Therefore, we decided not to renew his Kuwaiti passport." In the meantime, the Islamic Salafi Alliance in Kuwait announced suspending a series of seminars intended to respond to Habib's statements against the prophet's wife and companions after the latter's citizenship was revoked. However, the alliance stressed that revoking the citizenship is not enough and that Habib has to be brought back and tried. "We also call for the formation of a special parliamentary committee to investigate the circumstances under which Habib was smuggled out of Kuwait and prosecute all those involved," said the statement issued by the Salafi movement. The movement also called upon the Kuwaiti government to file lawsuits against Habib in both Kuwaiti and British courts. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 What did he say? That Aisha was too young and shouldn't have married an old man. |
| Posted by: DK70 the Scantily Clad7177 2010-09-24 15:19 |
| #4 Well perhaps it is about time we revoked the British Citizenship of this guy, he is not welcome in our country. |
| Posted by: Dave UK 2010-09-24 11:00 |
| #3 Mr. Habib has British citizenship and he was on British soil when the offense against Kuwaiti law occurred. But what he did is perfectly legal in Britain, so I see no basis for action. On the other hand, Kuwait was right to revoke the passport of a dual citizen, when that is against their laws... after which they have no cause to pursue him for breaking one of their laws while outside their jurisdiction. And, what Fred said. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-09-24 10:54 |
| #2 But that means next time the Pope has a dispute with a bishop over some point of theology he can have Interpol pick the miscreant up and ship him to the Vatican for an old-fashioned auto-da-fe. |
| Posted by: Fred 2010-09-24 10:44 |
| #1 Lets get this dick head onto the the next aeroplane to Kuwait. They can have him, we do not want him. |
| Posted by: Dave UK 2010-09-24 04:35 |