Kuwaiti MP's spying charge kicks up row

Former speaker and member of parliament Ahmad Al Saadoun yesterday accused the state security agency of watching 25 lawmakers, but Defence Minister Sheikh Jaber Al Mubarak Al Sabah completely denied the charge and said the government was prepared to order a probe.

Al Saadoun made the charge while objecting to a request by the National Assembly interior and defence committee to have two more weeks to complete its report on proposed amendments to the Public Gatherings Law.

"Twenty-five MPs met at MP Waleed Al Jari's residence recently. The state security agency asked its members to watch the MPs under the pretext that they were worried about their safety," Al Saadoun told parliament. "One of the corruption idols, a corruption pig, is pushing things into the wrong direction. The country is threatened ... What protects us is 'not good security, but the degree of freedom we have'" Al Saadoun said.

"The GCC counter-terrorism pact (signed last month) is worse than the GCC Security Pact (which Kuwait refused to sign). It is like the Arab 'counter-terrorism agreement. It is not acceptable to ask state security 'to monitor 25 MPs and their phones,'" he said.

The current Public Gatherings Law bans public rallies without a prior permission from the government which has the right to reject any application without stating the reason.

MPs have submitted a new draft law which stipulates that gatherings "can be organised by only notifying authorities and organisers don't have to wait for an approval."

The bill has been with the interior and defence committee for the last several months and MPs accused the panel of deliberately delaying it.

MP Yousef Al Zalzalah described the current law as a "stigma for Kuwait".

"Look at advanced countries. In America, demonstrations protesting against Bush policies are held under the protection of police. Kuwait which claims to be democratic still has this shameful law," he said.

The defence minister denied the spying charge saying "it is totally baseless."

But Al Saadoun reiterated his claims saying that a "meeting has taken place at the state security agency and those attending were assigned to spy on 25 MPs".

– The writer is a Kuwait-based Arab journalist