KUWAIT CITY, May 9: The Parliament Tuesday approved the report submitted by its Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee on the proposed amendments to the Penal Code No. 17 of 1960 related to pre-trial detention and the proceedings law during its second and final reading. The amendment reduces the pre-trial detention period from the current four days to just 48 hours.

Forty-one of the 42 lawmakers and ministers voted in favor of the amendments while one MP voted against. This came after the committee approved the government amendments on some articles of the law which were passed last month in its first reading.

The committee Rapporteur MP Mohammed Al-Dallal explained the amendment is necessary and will ensure a balance between the interests of the society and also protect the rights of the accused. The amendments have now been sent to the government.

Amendment
The amendment made during the first reading on Article 60 of the law stated ‘No arrested person should in any way be detained prior to his/her trial for more than twenty-four hours without a written order from the investigator’.

In the second reading the amendment stated ‘No arrested person should in any way be detained prior to his/her trial for more than forty-eight hours without a written order from the investigator’.

The securitymen during the detention period mention in Article (60) should allow the accused to contact his/her lawyer or inform anyone he/she deems appropriate about his/her whereabouts.

The amendment made in the first reading on Article 69 of the law states ‘If it is felt that the interest of the investigation requires the detention of the accused to prevent him/her from escaping or to influence the course of investigation the investigator may detain him/her for a period not exceeding seven days from the date of his/her arrest’.

Detention
The person during pre-trial detention may appeal against the decision of his/her remand before the head of concerned court to renew the detention and the head of the court must adjudicate the appeal within a period not exceeding 48 hours from the date of submission.

The accused must be sent to the head of the Court prior to the expiration of his/her incarceration to look into the issue of renewing the detention and the head of the court should order the renewal of detention for a period not exceeding 10 days at any time that he would ask for, and that pre-trial detention should not exceed in any way 37 days from the date the accused is arrested and the detention order should not be issued unless the statement of the accused is heard.

After amending the article in the second reading, it reads as follows ‘If it was felt that the interest of the investigation requires the detention of the accused to prevent him/her from escaping or to influence the course of the investigation the investigator may detain him/her for a period not exceeding seven days from the date of his/her arrest’.

The person during pre-trial detention may appeal against the decision of his/her remand before the head of concerned court to renew the detention and the head of the court must adjudicate the appeal within a period not exceeding 48 hours from the date of submission. In case the appeal is rejected, a reason must be given.

The accused must be sent to the head of the Court prior to the expiration of his/her incarceration to look into the issue of renewing the detention and the head of the court should order for the renewal of detention for a period not exceeding 10 days at any time that he would ask for, and that pre-trial detention should not exceed in any way 40 days from the date the accused is arrested and detention order should not be issued unless the statement of the accused is heard.

The amendment on Article 70 of the law remained as it was amended in the first reading. It read ‘if the investigation deems it necessary to continue the detention of the accused for more than the period stipulated in the preceding article, it is not permissible to extend his/her detention except by order from the concerned court to consider the matter upon the request of the investigator and after hearing the statements of the accused and see the outcome of the investigation. The court’s order for renewal should be 30 days at a time up to a maximum of three months’.

Also Article 75 of the law has been amended to read as follows ‘The suspect and the victim have the right to attend all preliminary interrogation procedures and each of them should accompany his/her lawyer in all cases. The lawyer should not talk unless with permission from the investigator. If the accused is arrested or detained, the investigator must allow him/her to bring his/her lawyer during the interrogation.

The public prosecutor and general director of the General Department of Criminal Investigation necessarily or in public interest, must issue order to make the interrogation secret and issue an order to prevent its publication in any news or information media.

This secrecy does not apply on the suspect or his/her lawyer.

The original Article (75) read: ‘The suspect and the victim have the right to attend all preliminary interrogation procedures and each of them has the right to be accompanied by his/her lawyer. The lawyer should not talk unless with permission from the investigator. If the accused is arrested or detained, the investigator must bring him/her during the interrogation. The investigator has right to hold the interrogation in secrecy if necessary.

Meanwhile, the Parliament has lifted the immunity of MPs Nabil Al-Fadhel and Mohammed Al-Juwaihel upon request by Public Prosecution to face misdemeanor press charges.

The Parliament agreed to assign the Public Utilities Committee of the National Assembly to investigate the alleged KD 600 million misappropriations of funds in the new passenger terminal project of at Kuwait International Airport.

The Parliament also agreed to assign the Health Affairs Committee of the National Assembly to investigate the violations in the Miguel contract of the Canada University.

The Parliament, upon request from the government, has decided to postpone the formation of a parliamentary committee to investigate the alleged theft of weapons (three MB5 machine guns) from the Special Forces during training.

The Parliament also agreed to assign the Public Utilities Committee to study and investigate the traffic crises and shortage of car parks in the country and submit a report within 3 months.
It also assigned the same committee to follow up the issue of the Grand Mosque which has been closed for fear of its eminent collapse.

The committee also agreed to assign the Education Affairs Committee to investigate the delay in the establishment of the Al-Shaddadiya University. It also assigned the Audit Bureau to investigate violations committed by the Public Institute for Social Security.

Meanwhile, MP Abdulhamid Dashti handed the public prosecutor a complaint on Wednesday against MP Mubarak Al-Walaan, accusing him of forgery and defamation.

Al-Walaan had revealed a copy of a Syrian diplomatic document which he says belong to an MP who’s of dual-nationality. The name of the alleged document holder was partially hidden, but Dashti’s name was leaked to the press. Dashti denied he owns the document and, in his complaint, claimed Al-Walaan committed forgery and harmed his reputation by revealing his name.

Dashti demanded the fast-tracking of a criminal suit against Al-Walaan and the summoning of witnesses involved in the incident.

On his part, Al-Walaan forwarded the document and a number of questions to the Interior and Foreign Ministers. He asked the ministers on the procedures taken to inquire about the validity of the document and their subsequent actions if the document is authentic.

Meanwhile, MP Adel Al-Damkhi said on Wednesday that a Kuwait student named Abdulaziz Al-Enezi was mistreated by a military academy in Cairo and suffered from shock at a psychiatric hospital. He said academy officials held Al-Enezi for three days under the sun while he was sick and lied to his family about their son’s situation. Al-Damkhi urged the government to launch an investigation into the incident.
Kuwait’s Ambassador in Cairo Dr Rasheed Al-Hamad, however, had earlier “dismissed reports that a Kuwaiti student at an Egyptian military college was tortured by Egyptian officers.”

Speaking to KUNA, Al-Hamad said the Kuwaiti student felt ill during a military exercise and was taken to hospital, adding that the Embassy staff members have accompanied the student till he completed medical checks and left the hospital.

On another note, head of the ‘foreign transfers’ probing committee, MP Faisal Al-Mislem said that “the Foreign Ministry confirmed that the suspicious transfers between 7-2-2006 and 29-11-2011 of KD 87 million were on the orders of former Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah’s Diwan.” He added that “the government seems to be attempting to cover-up the crime by voting against the extension of the probing committee.”

“My personal opinion is that the available documents show that a portion of the public funds, amounting to millions, were not used for the interest of the public. The committee interrogated more than 30 state officials and worked for around 70 hours in 14 meetings,” Al-Mislem stressed.