Kuwaiti minister evades comment on expulsion over Mughnieh

Kuwait City: The Kuwaiti Minister of Interior refrained from commenting on the authenticity of allegations that expatriates who participated in a ceremony last month to eulogise slain Hezbollah Commander Emad Mughnieh will face deportation.

Talking to the press on Tuesday after a parliamentary session and asked if the Ministry of Interior would take any action against those involved Shaikh Jaber Al Khalid asked "Do you know which expatriates attended the ceremony are? I personally don't know who they are."

Local papers have published several conflicting statements allegedly made by Al Khalid on the issue throughout the course of this week.

Illegal

According to Saturday's Al Anbaa, an Arabic daily, Al Khalid was quoted as saying that there was no intention to deport expatriates who attended the ceremony and that such a move would be deemed illegal unless stipulated by the Court of Justice.

The next day, the Al Watan daily, another Arabic language paper, said Al Khalid had exclusively told it that his ministry was currently trying to identify expatriates who attended the ceremony in order to deport them, and that this decision was "unavoidable."

Asked as to the authenticity of Al Watan's claims, Al Khalid jokingly asked the name of Al Watan's reporter then drove off without adding anymore information. He did not comment on whether these statements were made by him or not.

- Laila Ali is a journalist based in Kuwait