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Al-Ahram Weekly 9 - 15 March 2000 Issue No. 472 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 9 - 15 March 2000 Issue No. 472
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Focus Books Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Kuwait's mixed memories
By Sherine Bahaa
While Kuwait was celebrating the ninth anniversary of its liberation from Iraq's seven-month occupation, the trial of Kuwaiti Colonel Alaa Hussein Ali for treason recalled many bitter memories of the first days of the invasion in August, 1990.
Ali had been appointed premier of the provisional puppet government of Kuwait installed by Iraq. He returned home on 14 January, nearly one month before the ninth anniversary of Kuwait's liberation on 1 March. His return did not surprise officials, as he had been in contact with Information Minister Saad Mohamed Bin Teflah Al-Ajmi.
During his former posting to Britain as head of the Kuwaiti information office, Al-Ajmi met Ali several times in Norway after he had been smuggled out of Iraq through Turkey in 1998. Al-Ajmi has denied giving any assurance to Ali of a pardon in the event of his return, and was expected to give testimony in court yesterday as Al-Ahram Weekly went to print.
Ali was sentenced to death in 1993 in absentia for heading the puppet government set up by Baghdad. Repeatedly pleading his innocence, Ali has claimed that Iraqi authorities threatened to kill him and arrest his family if he refused to obey their orders. The Iraqis abducted Ali at midnight in his night clothes and named him prime minister of what they called the "provisional free Kuwait government". Hours later Baghdad announced that it had annexed Kuwait.
Ali and the eight other members of the short-lived government were held captive by the Iraqis after they had been chosen to serve in the cabinet. Members of the puppet government, which never actually functioned, lived in three separate houses inside the presidential palace compound in Baghdad. The eight others returned to Kuwait soon after the 1991 Gulf War ended. Charges against them were dropped after they surrendered and paid $400,000 to the Kuwaiti authorities in order to be reinstated in their military jobs.
But Ali claimed that he was not allowed to return with his colleagues. He said that he stayed in Baghdad until 1997, when the Iraqi government approved his request to leave the country. Ali added that he then went to Jordan and contacted his family in Kuwait.
However, his colleagues in the so-called "provisional government" refuted his claims, confirming that they all went to meet Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to appeal for their return and left together. Moreover, Ali's brother has also cast doubt on his sibling's credibility, testifying that Ali had contacted the family one year after the liberation, and not in 1997 as he told the court.
Fouad Rajab, charged with the oil and finance portfolio in the puppet government, took the witness stand first. Rajab said Ali told him before the liberation war to "forget Kuwait, because it is gone," and that the US-led coalition would never be able to beat Saddam.
One witness said that the eight ministers were afraid to talk about Iraq in front of their appointed premier for fear that he would inform on them.
To date three members of the puppet government have all testified against Ali. However, the trial is expected to take several months, and Ali's lawyer, Khaled Abdul Jalil, is planning to call Iraqi dissidents familiar with the puppet government to testify. Ali will have the right to appeal against the court's verdict.
