| Submit your comments on this article |
| Arabia |
| Court acquits founders of Ummah Party |
| 2006-05-17 |
| KUWAIT: A Kuwaiti court yesterday cleared the Islamist founders of the state's first political party of charges of violating the law, a defence lawyer said. The court imposed a fine of 50 dinars ($173.4) on just one of the 15 founders of the Ummah (Nation) Party, who had been taken to court by the government on charges of breaching press and public gatherings laws, Nasser Al-Duwailah told AFP. The men could have faced six months in jail if convicted of the alleged offences. The party's secretary general, Hakem Al-Mutairi, was fined "on charges of circulating publications without prior authorisation from the side concerned", Duwailah said, adding he would appeal. The lawyer said he was "happy" with the verdict acquitting his clients, which he saw as "a legal recognition" of the Ummah Party's existence. None of the 15 defendants, who launched their party in January 2005, were in court when the ruling was pronounced. Duwailah had urged the court to drop all charges, pointing out that the public gatherings law his clients were accused of violating had been revoked by the constitutional court and that parliament has passed a new press law to replace the legislation they allegedly breached. The men were accused of holding a public meeting and issuing statements without prior permits from authorities. The Sunni Islamist activists took the unprecedented step of launching the Ummah Party, the first of its kind in the conservative Gulf region, saying it intends to promote pluralism and a peaceful rotation of power. "They have so far shelved the case. We think they have no evidence against us. We are a peaceful party and we are demanding - like any other group - plurality, freedom and democracy," Ummah Party Vice-Chairman Awad Al-Zufairi told Reuters. Last year, state security summoned leaders of the Ummah Party for interrogation, saying they were "trying to change the regime" in Kuwait. The group has dismissed the government's allegations as an attempt to silence its members, who include prominent Islamists. Kuwait was the first Gulf Arab state to have an elected parliament and a constitution in 1962, one year after independence, but the premiership and all key ministries are controlled by members of the ruling Al-Sabah family. Many liberal and Islamist political groupings - but not parties operate openly in the state. Kuwaiti law makes no reference to political parties, but the government has repeatedly said it was premature to legalise such parties. |
| Posted by:ryuge |