KUWAIT CITY, Dec 4: Mohammed Al-Juwaihal, the owner of the Soor TV channel and a former candidate in the National Assembly elections was severely beaten up and admitted to the intensive care unit of a local hospital late Saturday evening.

The attack took place during a seminar at the diwaniya of MP Ahmed Al-Saadoun, but the exact cause of the assault was not known. Some of the participants of the seminar said that the attack on Al-Juwaihal started after he spat on the screen when MP Mussalam Al-Barrack was addressing the gathering although this could not be independently confirmed.

Al-Juwaihal had a few month ago been involved in another controversy when he was accused of stirring sectarian and tribal tensions after saying that a number of tribal MPs had dual nationalities and suggested that they were not Kuwaitis. The Soor TV station was later also attacked by supporters of a highly influential personality when Al-Juwaihal verbally attacked a member of the royal family.
Even before the attack on Al-Juwaihal, tensions surfaced when he arrived at the seminar with a large number of attendees objecting to his presence.

 

Once the attack on Al-Juwaihal started it was difficult for the people to stop the assault. He was reported to have been kicked and punched repeatedly and the attack did not stop even after someone screamed that he had died, although he had just been rendered unconscious by the heavy beating that he took. He was not moving when the securitymen arrived at the scene and had to be put on a stretcher before being carried into an ambulance which took him to Amiri Hospital.

Sources said that the attack on Al-Juwaihal was led by an MP and six of his supporters. This group was also reported to have attacked one of the photographers who was photographing them. They broke his camera before they resumed the attack on Al-Juwaihal, who by now was trying to get into the house of Al-Saadoun but was dragged out into the open again by the attackers, who started beating him.

The seminar was basically full of attacks on the government and had focused on the constitution of the country. There was a large security presence at the event because the Interior Ministry did not want things to get out of control as verbal attacks were repeatedly being launched against the government, especially His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al-Sabah. It was aimed at putting pressure on the government and force it to attend Monday’s session during which the lifting of MP Faisal Al-Muslim’s immunity was to be discussed. The seminar was attended by 15 current MPs and seven former lawmakers.

Al-Saadoun launched a very strong attack on the government and said the government was the one confronting the public and if it decided not to attend Monday’s session then it would be fully responsible for the consequences of “all that would happen in the future”. He did not elaborate on this point but drew the attention of the crowd to “the 1986 incidents”. That year a large number of rallies were held by most of the groups in the country against the government with the politicians very vocal at all the protests.

Former MP Abdullah Al-Naibari said that the political scene was miserable and politicians were criticized as making irresponsible statements since the talk of amending the constitution began. He added that this is a move of the government and stressed the Jeddah Agreement must be implemented.

Al-Naibari also said it was time to think of getting the country’s prime minister from the masses. He said that every Sheikh who is given a position looks after his own interests only. “Have the government decisions become the decisions of the Sheikhs only,” he asked the public.

MP Mussalam Al-Barrack stressed that if the prime minister did not attend Monday’s session the lawmakers will announce that they cannot cooperate with him.