Cairo: Three ex-Kuwaiti opposition members of parliament returned to the country from self-exile abroad under an amnesty from the Emir, local media reported.
Ex-lawmakers Jamaan Al Herbesh, Salem Al Namlan and Mubarak Al Waalan arrived Monday night from Turkey at Kuwait International Airport where hundreds of relatives and supporters gave them a grand welcome.
Footage showed some of the returnees kneeling down in a gesture of joy on returning home.
The three had left Kuwait during their trial in connection to participation in the 2011 storming of the parliament by protesters who demanded the then premier Nasser Al Sabah resign. They were later handed down jail terms in absentia.
The ex-legislators expressed happiness on home return.
“Thanks be to Allah for ending this alienation,” Al Herbesh told reporters. “We thank His Highness for this initiative that only comes from a strong man who can turn over a page in the interests of this country,” he added.
Earlier this week, Kuwait’s official gazette Kuwait Today published two decrees from Emir Nawaf Al Ahmad, pardoning and commuting jail terms for 35 Kuwaitis.
The amnesty was long sought by the Kuwaiti opposition in the parliament to end a standoff with the government.
Under this amnesty, authorities Sunday released 20 Kuwaitis, who were earlier convicted of covering up defendants in a 2015 case related to a group, dubbed Al Abadli Cell, charged with spying for Iran and its allied Lebanese Hezbollah movement.
The amnesty was long sought by the Kuwaiti opposition in the parliament to end a standoff with the government.
