Manama: Security sources in Kuwait have denied claims that lawmakers involved in an unprecedented brawl last week have been arrested.
"The reports widely disseminated by social networks about the detention of the MPs for their role in the fistfight and brawl on Wednesday are not true and lack credibility," security forces were quoted as saying by newsportal Al Aan.
"The case has been classified as a felony and has been transferred to the public prosecutor. The interior ministry has nothing whatsoever to do with it," the unidentified sources said.
On Wednesday, Jassem Al Khorafi, Kuwait's parliamentary speaker, suspended the sessions until the end of the month after an unprecedented fight broke out between fellow MPs.
The fight broke out after a heated exchange of accusations between lawmakers over remarks made about the Kuwaitis detained at Guantanamo Bay.
The session was debating the status of the detainees when MP Husain Al Gallaf said that they were "terrorists".
His description sparked protests by MPs Mohammad Hayef, Falah Al Sawwagh, Waleed Al Tabtabai and Jamaan Al Harbash who said that his microphone should be turned off to stop him from continuing his statement, Al Aan reported.
The ensuing vociferous argument caused uproar and Abdullah Al Roumi, the deputy speaker, opted to lift the session temporarily and calm the situation.
However, the lawmakers who objected to Al Gallaf's description of the detainees used the break to surround him and argue.
In the ensuing scuffle, Al Gallaf was floored by one of the MPs, reportedly for making threats with a stick, and MP Adnan Al Mutawa received a punch under his eye and needed treatment. MP Salem Al Namlan was reportedly also hurt.
Several people and the parliament guards stepped in to break the melee.
According to Kuwaiti media, the Emir Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad is hosting a lunch banquet on Sunday to help reconcile the MPs involved in the fight and put an end to the tension that gripped the parliament.
On Thursday, Shaikh Nasser Al Mohammad called the MPs and sought to calm the situation.
MP Mohammad Al Hayef charged that the unprecedented incident was "deliberate" to shit the parliament's attention from the visit by Iran's foreign minister to the country.
Al Hayef and several MPs had vociferously opposed the visit.
