The former speaker of Kuwait’s parliament Jasem Al Khorafi has not been charged with toppling the regime, contrary to regional media reports, his lawyers told Gulf News yesterday.
Kuwait’s Al Watan newspaper, one of the country’s most popular, reported on October 1 that Al Khorafi had been charged with attempting to topple the regime, laundering money and of contact with an enemy state following a two-week investigation. The report was cited by a number of regional newspapers, including Gulf News.
Al Khorafi has been caught in the middle of a high-profile controversy about an alleged plot to “topple the regime” that has pitted him against a former minister who is also a senior member of the ruling Al Sabah family.
The highly controversial case came out in the open in December, 2013 when a Twitter user reported that Shaikh Ahmad Al Fahd Al Sabah, the former deputy premier for economic affairs and energy minister and a nephew of the Emir, Shaikh Sabah Al Ahamd, had received an audio tape that allegedly claimed that Jasem Al Khorafi and former Prime Minister Shaikh Nasser Al Mohammad, another nephew of the Emir, were “conspiring to topple the regime”. The tweeter was held for more than a month before he was released.
The hype around the story and the involvement of high profile figures led the prosecutor to issue a blanket gag order on the issue later that month, saying it was “undermining the public order”.
Al Khorafi has appeared before the public prosecution a number of times in connection with the case, his lawyers confirmed.
Al Watan and another newspaper, Alam Al Youm, were suspended in April and June for two weeks and five days respectively for covering the story and violating the gag order.
Ebrahim Al Kandari, Al Khorafi’s lawyer, said that the former speaker initially appeared before the public prosecution after having filed a complaint against those who spread the news about the alleged tape on Twitter, accusing them of publishing false news.
Al Khorafi also went to the public prosecution to give his statement as a complainant against Shaikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah, accusing him of inciting the Twitter users to publish information about the alleged tape, of defamation, perjury and fabricating evidence, as per Al Kandari.
A third visit to the public prosecution by Al Khorafi was to give his testimony following a complaint by Shaikh Ahmad Al Fahad against him.
Al Kandari stressed that Al Khorafi was not charged, contrary to media reports.
“We want the truth to come out. Al Khorafi has filed a legal complaint against Shaikh Ahamd because his accusations undermine national security,” he added.
In April, the prosecutor summoned Shaikh Ahmad as a witness to hear his version about what happened and about the alleged audio tape. Shaikh Ahmad denied there was any tape, according to Al Kandari and Mishaal Al Othman, another lawyer of Al Khorafi. However, he added that he did receive scattered recording on “local, parliamentary, [ruling] family, financial and regional issues” and that he dealt with them “in accordance with my patriotic duties”.
The report about Al Khorafi being charged is said to have only appeared on Al Watan’s website, and not in print. News sites in the country are not governed by the same laws that regulate print media. The gag order however encompassed all news outlets, including online media and social media.
The former speaker has filed a complaint against Al Watan for publishing what his lawyers say is a false news report.
