Lawyer, defendant fight inside courtroom

KUWAIT: The criminal court yesterday sentenced a Kuwaiti and an Egyptian businessman to life and four others - two Egyptians, a Saudi and a Syrian - to three years in jail over human trafficking charges. The court accused the defendants of selling visas to 400 expats for KD 1,500 each. Separately, the public prosecutor yesterday remanded in custody a gang specialized in money laundering pending further investigations, said security sources, noting that the gang members are facing fraud charges. And in an unusual incident inside a Kuwaiti court, a female lawyer fought with a defendant at the Palace of Justice in which she used her shoes, said informed sources, noting that another female lawyer was unintentionally beaten when she intervened in an attempt to stop the fight.

In the meantime, Ministry of Social Affair's official spokesperson and manager of its public relations department Abdullah Al-Hamdan announced a final court order seconding the ministry's decision issued in 2017 to dissolve Kaifan Co-op Society's board of directors over committing several administrative violations and failing to protect public funds. In a press release, Hamdan said another verdict was issued imprisoning a number of the co-op's employees for three to five years, fining them KD 10,000, ordering them to return the sums they had stolen and deporting them after doing their time.

In other news, and despite Kuwait Municipality's rejection of a proposal to ban shisha in indoor public places, the Municipal Council's technical committee members Hamad Al-Medlej, Fuhaid Al-Muwaizri, Humoud Al-Enezi, Abdullah Al-Roumi and Mohammed Al-Raqeeb approved the proposal pending further discussion during the council's main session. If the proposal is passed during a council session, it will be sent to State Minister of Municipality Affairs Fahad Al-Shoula for final approval or rejection.

By Meshaal Al-Enezi