Kuwait deports over 1,250 for traffic offences
KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait has deported hundreds of expats for traffic offences in the past month, a report said yesterday, drawing condemnation from a human rights group.
The Al Anbaa newspaper cited a senior interior ministry official as saying that as many as 1,258 foreigners have been deported for traffic violations since a crackdown began about a month ago.
Foreign residents caught driving without a licence, using their cars to carry paying passengers, jumping a red light for a second time, or breaking the speed limit by more than 40kmph, can be deported without a court order.
The Kuwait Society for Human Rights called on the government to halt the deportations describing them as “oppressive”.
“The oppressive measure against expatriates... violates the basic principles of human rights,” it said.
The group warned that the measure could tarnish the Gulf state’s image abroad at a time when its human rights record is under scrutiny.
Saudi man spared paralysis sentence
RIYADH: A Saudi man escaped a sentence of paralysis for stabbing and paralysing another man by offering him compensation, media reported yesterday, although the authorities have denied issuing the punishment.
The sentence was dropped after the family of Mohammed Al Hazim, 26, accepted SR1m ($270,000) in compensation from the family of convicted Ali Khawahir, 24, Al Watan daily reported.
A court in the eastern city of Al Ahsa had registered a waiver by the plaintiff’s family, and would now proceed with the release of Khawahir, who has already spent 10 years in jail. Last month Amnesty International said Khawahir had reportedly been sentenced to Qisas, or retribution, and could be paralysed from the waist down if he failed to pay compensation.
Bahraini prisoners escape after attack
DUBAI: Several prisoners in Bahrain escaped yesterday from a prison van that was smashed into by two cars whose occupants helped them flee in an assault south of the capital Manama, an official said.
The unprecedented attack was carried out by “outlaws”, the prison official said, indicating that the escapees were “involved in security issues” — Shias accused of violence during protests that have rocked the Gulf state. One prisoner who escaped and an attacker were later arrested, the official said, without specifying how many detainees or attackers were still at large.
Iraq PM for joint Sunni-Shia prayers
BAGHDAD: Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki yesterday called for joint Sunni-Shia prayers after a spate of attacks on places of worship, saying the attackers wanted to ignite sectarian strife in Iraq.
“I call for holding joint prayers... in one of the large Baghdad mosques” each Friday, Maliki said in a statement.
“Those who target mosques are enemies of Sunnis and Shias alike, and are planning to ignite strife,” he said. Bombs near the Saria Sunni mosque in Baquba, north of Baghdad, killed 41 people on Friday, a day after a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged belt at the entrance of Al Zahraa husseiniyah, a Shia place of worship in the northern city of Kirkuk, killing 12 people. Agencies
