Govt praises ministry for busting Brotherhood-linked network

KUWAIT: MP Riyadh Al-Adasani yesterday sent a series of questions to the interior ministry requesting details on the alleged Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood terrorist network that was busted by Kuwaiti police a few days ago and whose members were handed over to Egyptian authorities. The lawmaker inquired about the names of the members in the cell, verdicts passed against them in Egypt and their confessions in Kuwait. He also asked about the means and date of their entry into Kuwait and where they had been at the time of arrest.

He also asked the minister about the nature of employment of the members, their sponsors and any other details related to their residence permit in the country. Kuwait said yesterday it handed the members of the network to Egyptian authorities just a few days after arresting them. The interior ministry had said on Friday the eight Egyptians belonged to a "terrorist" cell linked to the Brotherhood. They had fled to Kuwait after being sentenced by Egyptian authorities to jail terms of up to 15 years, it said.

Kuwait has not specified the circumstances of their sentencing, and there has been no official comment on the case from Egyptian judicial authorities either. The men were returned under the terms of bilateral agreements, KUNA quoted a senior foreign ministry official as saying late on Sunday. The interior ministry said investigations are ongoing to discover other cell members.

Later yesterday, the government praised interior ministry personnel for apprehending the terrorist cell. Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Khaled Jarrah Al-Sabah briefed the Cabinet about the circumstances that contributed to the discovery of the cell, the government said in a statement following its weekly meeting chaired by HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah. He said the cell members confessed they carried out terrorist operations in Egypt and attempted to undermine security in different parts of Egypt. Sheikh Khaled said investigations are ongoing to learn who was covering and cooperating with this cell.

Egypt banned the group in 2013 after late Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi, the first democratically elected head of state in Egypt's modern history, was toppled by the military following widespread unrest. Since then, Egyptian authorities have arrested tens of thousands of political opponents, many of them Islamists, according to human rights organizations. The Brotherhood says it publicly renounced violence decades ago and pursues an Islamist political vision using peaceful means.

By B Izzak