ISSUE NO: 17722

24 Pages

150 Fils

www.kuwaittimes.net

Established 1961 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf

RABI ALTHANI 25, 1440 AH

TUESDAY,

JANUARY 1, 2019

Max 20ºMin 07º

News in briefTV boss fired over sex scene

TEHRAN: A regional boss of Iran’s state broad-caster IRIB has been fired after inadvertently lettinga Jackie Chan sex scene slip through its tight cen-sorship rules. Viewers on Iran’s Kish Island wereshocked when their local TV station showed themartial arts star having sex with a prostitute in oneof his films. But there were angry responses fromsome Iranians pointing out that no one had beenfired over a fatal bus crash that killed 10 students atTehran’s Azad University last week. IRIB TV presen-ter Reza Rashidpoor joked on his morning talk showthat the controversy could have been avoided ifIRIB had included a caption saying Chan was mar-ried to the actress playing the prostitute. — AFP

Israel protests flag ‘desecration’

JERUSALEM/AMMAN: Israel protested toJordan on Sunday after the spokeswoman for thegovernment in Amman was photographed steppingon the Israeli flag. Jumana Ghunaimat, Jordan’s min-ister for media affairs and communications and thegovernment spokeswoman, on Thursday walked overan Israeli flag painted on the floor of the headquar-ters of Jordan’s professional unions in Amman. Shewas on her way to attend a meeting betweenJordanian Prime Minister Omar Al-Razzaz and unionrepresentatives. Razzaz, however, entered the build-ing through a rear door. — Reuters

Kuwait rejects ‘slanderous’charges of terror financing

Syrian Embassy denies placing Kuwaiti figures on terror list

Due to the New Year holiday today, Kuwait

Times will not be published tomorrow, January 2,

2019. Our next issue will hit the newsstands on

Thursday, January 3, 2019. However, readers

can stay updated on breaking news and events

on our digital media channels including our web-

site www.kuwaittimes.net and on Instagram,

Twitter and Facebook.

NOTICE

KUWAIT: Kuwait dismisses “slanderous”accusations lodged against it over terrorfinancing, Deputy Foreign Minister KhaledAl-Jarallah said yesterday. “I am baffledhow Kuwait has been included in a list ofterrorism financing countries,” Jarallah toldAl-Jazeera television, citing the state’s host-ing of a trio of donor conferences in sup-port of Syria as counterevidence.

His remarks came as the Syrian Embassyin Kuwait categorically denied a report byKuwaiti daily Al-Seyassah on Sunday overlisting a number of Kuwaiti personalities on

the terrorism financing list. The embassysaid in a statement that “it considers theseallegations an attempt by some suspiciousbodies which seem to be unhappy with thedevelopment of bilateral ties between thetwo brotherly countries”.

On the status of Kuwait’s embassy inSyria, Jarallah said, “operations will onlyresume with the Arab League’s consent.” Hepredicted a “thaw in relations” betweenSyria and Arab Gulf states in the comingdays as more nations look to reopen theirembassies in Damascus. Jarallah added the

Syrian Embassy in Kuwait has the leewayneeded to look after the Syrian diaspora inthe country, which number around a quarterof a million people.

Arab states, including some that oncebacked rebels against President Bashar Al-Assad, are seeking to reconcile with himafter decisive gains by his forces in thewar, aiming to expand their clout in Syriaat the expense of non-Arab Turkey andIran. The United Arab Emirates re-openedits embassy in Damascus last Thursdayand Bahrain said the next day that its

embassy there and the Syrian diplomaticmission in Manama had been operating“without interruption”.

Arab League’s permanent representa-tives are due to meet in Cairo on Jan 6. US-allied Gulf Arab states were the mainregional backers of armed groups opposedto Assad, providing finance or weapons orboth, acting largely as part of a program ofsupport for the armed opposition coordi-nated by Washington. Unlike its otherneighbors, Kuwait kept Syria’s embassy inKuwait open and opposed arming the

rebels, although private donors in Kuwaitsent funds to anti-Assad forces. Kuwait hasled a humanitarian fundraising campaign forSyria through the United Nations.

An Arab diplomat, speaking on conditionof anonymity, told Reuters last week hebelieved a majority of members wantedSyria to be readmitted. Syria’s membershipof the Arab League was suspended in 2011in response to the government’s violentcrackdown on “Arab Spring” protests. ForSyria to be reinstated, the Arab Leaguemust reach a consensus. — Agencies

SYDNEY: New Year’s Eve fireworks erupt over Sydney’s iconic Harbour Bridge and Opera House early today. — AFP (See Page 18)

Guard boats to get stealth tech

LONDON: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said yes-terday they plan to upgrade their speedboats in theGulf with radar-evading stealth technology and newmissile launchers. “We are trying to increase theagility of the Guards’ speedboats and equip themwith stealth technology to facilitate their opera-tions,” said Alireza Tangsiri, the Guards’ navy chief.He said the speedboats will be equipped with newmissiles, and their speed will reach 80 knots perhour. The head of the Iranian armed forces warnedthat any Iranian confrontation with US forces mightalso target Gulf nations that he said had invited theminto the region. — Reuters

SYDNEY/KUWAIT: Australia’s largest city Sydneyput on its biggest-ever fireworks display in a spectacu-lar welcome to the New Year, kicking off a wave of cel-ebrations for billions around the world. A recordamount of pyrotechnics as well as new fireworks effectsand colors lit up the city’s skyline for 12 minutes anddazzled the more than 1.5 million spectators whopacked the harbor front and parks. The party atmos-phere swept across major cities in Asia, Europe, Africaand the Americas as the clock ticked past midnight.

HH the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah yesterday exchanged congratulatorycables with world leaders on the advent of the NewYear. In the cables, the Amir wished the leaders ever-more progress to their respective countries, as well ashoping for the prevalence of peace, security and pros-perity worldwide. — Agencies

World rings inNew Year; Amirexchanges greetings

NICOSIA: Courts in the Gulf and Egypthave upheld jail terms against leadingactivists in a crackdown on protestingthrough social media, marking a somberend to 2018 for rights campaigners. Inboth Bahrain and the United ArabEmirates, prominent campaigners lost theirappeals yesterday against lengthy prisonterms over their online posts. Award-win-ning human rights activist Ahmed Mansoorsaw his 10-year sentence upheld by theUAE’s Federal Supreme Court, AmnestyInternational said. Elsewhere in the Gulf,Amnesty decried the “utterly outrageous”five-year jail term handed down to promi-nent Bahraini activist Nabeel Rajab.

Mansoor was convicted in May ofattempting to harm his country’s relationswith its neighbors by spreading misinfor-mation in Facebook and Twitter posts,according to local media. The upper courtalso confirmed a fine of one milliondirhams ($270,000) for Mansoor, 49, whowill be kept under surveillance for three

years after his release. Amnesty said thefinal ruling “confirms there is no space forfree expression in the United ArabEmirates”.

Continued on Page 20

UAE, Bahrain, Egypt uphold jail sentencesof activists

Ahmed Mansoor

Nabeel Rajab

DHAKA: Bangladesh Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina yesterday rejected callsfor a new vote after being declaredlandslide winner in an election marredby deadly violence that the oppositionslammed as “farcical” and rigged.Hasina’s ruling Awami League partyand its allies won 288 seats in the 300-seat parliament, with the main opposi-tion securing only six seats. Hasina,who gets a record fourth term, sweptaside opposition protests over clashesbetween rival supporters that left atleast 17 dead and allegations of ballotbox stuffing and intimidation.

“The election was totally free andindependent. There is no doubt aboutit,” the 71-year-old Hasina said. “I havenothing to hide. Whatever I do I do itfor the country. My conscience isclear,” she added in comments toreporters. Hasina insisted she had nodesire “to remain in power” and that

voters had backed her party becauseof Bangladesh’s economic growth dur-ing her decade-long rule.

The opposition alliance led by theBangladesh National Party (BNP) saidit had been the target of a crackdownfor months leading up to Sunday’s polland called for a rerun. “We aredemanding that a fresh election is heldunder a neutral government as earlyas possible,” alliance leader KamalHossain told reporters. Electionauthorities said they had not receiveda single complaint against the voteand that there was “no scope to hold afresh one”.

Continued on Page 20

Hasina rejects calls for fresh elections amidrigging claims

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

Tuesday, January 1, 2019N e w s

Established 1961 Th l h b lf

20

Continued from Page 1

The UAE’s ruling families rarely tolerate opposition andduring Mansoor’s trial all court proceedings were con-ducted in almost total secrecy.

Rajab was also jailed for criticizing his country’s rulerson social media, losing his appeal yesterday at Bahrain’ssupreme court, a judicial source said. A high-profile rightsactivist who is already serving a two-year term in anothercase, Rajab was first handed the sentence in February by alower court and an appeals court confirmed it in June.Amnesty International said the ruling “exposes Bahrain’sjustice system as a complete farce”.

Rajab was found guilty of insulting the state by “deliber-ately disseminating”, false and malicious news on socialmedia. He was also convicted of criticizing the Saudi-ledmilitary campaign in Yemen and publicly offending a for-eign country, a reference to Saudi Arabia. Manama is partof the alliance spearheaded by Riyadh and Rajab was foundguilty of endangering Bahrain’s military operation in Yemen.

The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy saidthe ruling had been carefully timed. “By arranging the final

verdict to fall during the holidays, a time when internation-al attention will be minimal, the intentions of Bahrain’srulers have been made clear. This appears to be a plannedoutcome, prepared well in advance,” it said in a statement.Rajab played a key role in anti-government protests in2011, since when dozens of high-profile activists havebeen jailed by authorities in the kingdom.

Social networking sites, notably Twitter, are a majorplatform for rights activists in Bahrain. In March, authori-ties announced they would be taking “severe measures” totrack down dissidents who use social media, as Bahraintightens its grip on political opposition. Egypt has alsoclamped down on online platforms this year, introducinglegislation to monitor social media users in the country aspart of a broader tightening of Internet controls.

The law was ratified by the presidency in Septemberand includes powers to suspend or block any personalaccount which publishes “fake news” or information incit-ing law-breaking, violence or hatred. Even before the newlegislation, Egyptian authorities were widely criticized byrights groups for their zero-tolerance approach to critics.

In May, rights activist Amal Fathi was arrested over avideo she posted online in which she spoke out againstsexual harassment in Egypt. The 34-year-old was subse-quently convicted of charges including “spreading falsenews”. Yesterday she lost her appeal and was handed atwo-year prison term, as well as a fine of 10,000 Egyptianpounds ($560). — AFP

UAE, Bahrain, Egypt uphold...

Continued from Page 1

Hasina has been lauded for boosting economicgrowth in the poor South Asian nation and for wel-coming Rohingya refugees fleeing a military crack-down in neighboring Myanmar. But critics accuse herof authoritarianism. Arch-rival and BNP leaderKhaleda Zia was jailed for 17 years this year on graftcharges that her party said were politically motivated.Deadly violence that blighted the election campaignspilled over into voting day, even though authoritiesdeployed 600,000 security forces across the country.

Thirteen people were killed in clashes betweenAwami League and BNP supporters, police said. Threepeople were shot and killed by police who said theywere protecting polling booths. An auxiliary policemember was also killed by armed opposition activists,according to officials. Police have now confirmed 21deaths during the election campaign and voting day.

The opposition alliance accused Hasina’s party ofstuffing ballot boxes and using other illegal means to

fix the result. BNP spokesman Syed Moazzem HossainAlal said there were “irregularities” in 221 of the 300seats. One voter, Atiar Rahman, said he was beaten byruling party activists in the central district ofNarayanganj. “They told me not to bother, ‘We’ll castyour vote on your behalf’,” he told AFP. The oppositionsaid the unrest was stirred up to deter voters but theelection commission reported 80 percent turnout.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the firstinternational leader to call and congratulate Hasina, theBangladesh leader’s press secretary said. China’sPresident Xi Jinping also greeted her with Beijing’senvoy handing over “congratulatory messages”.Experts say Hasina’s victory will be sullied by accusa-tions that she hamstrung opponents. “This result mightaffect our democratic system and might also damagestate institutions,” Sakhawat Hussain, a former electioncommissioner, told AFP.

The opposition claims some 21,000 of its activistswere detained during the campaign, crushing its abil-ity to mobilize support. Thirty-five of its candidateswere arrested over what they said were trumped-upcharges or disqualified from running by courts, whichHasina’s opponents say are government controlled.The leadership of Bangladesh has alternatedbetween Hasina and Zia, allies-turned-foes, over thelast three decades. — AFP

Hasina rejects calls for fresh...

WASHINGTON: US Senator Elizabeth Warren, a liberalfirebrand and Wall Street antagonist, took the first steptoward a 2020 White House run yesterday, becoming themost prominent Democrat to announce a challenge toRepublican President Donald Trump. Warren said she hadformed an exploratory committee, which will allow her tobegin raising campaign funding as part of what is expect-ed to be a crowded Democratic field before theNovember 2020 presidential election.

Warren, 69, who became a senator fromMassachusetts in 2013, has frequently clashed withTrump, who has cast aspersions on Warren’s claim toNative American ancestry and mockingly referred to heras “Pocahontas”. Warren released a video in which sheoutlines her vision of a path to opportunity for allAmericans, not just the wealthy. “Every person in Americashould be able to work hard, play by the same set of rules,& take care of themselves & the people they love,” shesaid in a Twitter post. “That’s what I’m fighting for, &that’s why I’m launching an exploratory committee forpresident. I need you with me.”

Warren said in September she would take a “hardlook” at running for the Democratic nomination to chal-lenge Republican Trump in 2020. The former HarvardLaw School professor campaigned with Democraticpresidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016 andattacked Trump as an “insecure money grubber” drivenby greed and hate. Earlier this month, Julian Castro, 44,who was mayor of San Antonio and secretary of theDepartment of Housing and Urban Development underDemocratic President Barack Obama, said he was formingan exploratory committee and would announce his inten-tions on Jan 12. In 2017, former Democratic congressmanJohn Delaney of Maryland said he would seek the party’snomination.

Warren has been a strong voice in the US Senate onfinancial issues and a self-described defender of the ordi-nary American against powerful interests. Following the2007-2009 global financial crisis, she emerged as a lead-ing critic of Wall Street and continues to advocate forstiffer regulation and oversight, including reinstating a rulethat would separate banks’ retail business from their riski-er investment banking activities.

Warren, a member of the Senate Banking Committee,has vigorously fought the Trump administration’s effortsto weaken post-crisis financial rules, going as far as toattack moderate Democrats who backed a May rewrite ofthe 2010 Dodd-Frank reform law. In a September inter-

view marking 10 years since the financial crisis, Warrenwas asked about wanting to break up big banks. “Ohyeah,” she told the New York Times. “Give me a chance.”

She also has opposed the administration’s efforts toundermine the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, anagency she helped create, and has pressurized the FederalReserve to take a tough line on scandal-hit lender WellsFargo. In October, Warren released a DNA analysis shesaid supported her assertion that she had NativeAmerican lineage that goes back six to 10 generations.Trump, who had promised $1 million to her favorite chari-ty if she took a DNA test that showed she had NativeAmerican blood, greeted the results with a shrug, saying,“Who cares?”

Trump’s use of the name Pocahontas refers to a 17th

century Native American woman associated with theBritish colony in Jamestown, Virginia, and was aimed atdrawing attention to a controversy over her heritageraised during Warren’s 2012 Senate race. Trump’s mock-ing reference has drawn criticism from some NativeAmerican groups while others criticized Warren for tryingto lay claim to a tribal nation.

The website announcing Warren’s exploratory com-mittee portrays her as a product of the Americandream that has slipped out of reach for too manyAmericans. “America’s middle class is under attack,”Warren says on the website’s video. “How did we gethere? Billionaires and big corporations decided theywanted more of the pie and they enlisted politicians tocut them a fatter slice.” — Reuters

Democratic senator Warren takes step to challenge Trump in 2020

BOSTON: In this file photo taken on Nov 6, 2018 US Senator Elizabeth Warren addresses the audience at theFairmont Copley Hotel. — AFP

TEL AVIV: Iran could use its growing clout in Iraq to turnthe Arab country into a springboard for attacks againstIsrael, the top Israeli intelligence official said yesterday.Israel sees the spread of Tehran’s influence in the region as agrowing threat, and has carried out scores of air strikes incivil war-torn Syria against suspected military deploymentsand arms deliveries by Iranian forces supporting Damascus.

Iraq, which does not share a border with Israel, is techni-cally its enemy but was last an open threat in the 1991 Gulfwar. After a US-led invasion in 2003 toppled Iraqi dictatorSaddam Hussein, Israel has worried that the country’s Shiitemajority could tilt to Tehran. “Iraq is under growing influenceof the (covert Iranian foreign operations unit) Qods Forceand Iran,” Major-General Tamir Hayman, the chief of Israelimilitary intelligence chief, told a conference in Tel Aviv.

With US President Donald Trump signaling he sought todisengage from the region, Hayman said, the Iranians may“see Iraq as a convenient theatre for entrenchment, similar towhat they did in Syria, and to use it as a platform for a forcebuild-up that could also threaten the State of Israel”. CitingIranian, Iraqi and Western sources, Reuters reported inAugust that Iran had transferred short-range ballistic mis-siles to Shiite allies in Iraq. Baghdad denied the findings.

The following week, Israel said it might attack such sitesin Iraq, effectively expanding a campaign now focused inSyria. Hayman predicted 2019 would bring “significantchange” to Syria, whose President Bashar Al-Assad hasbeaten back rebels with the help of Russia, Iran andLebanese Hezbollah reinforcements, and where Trump thismonth ordered a pullout of US troops. “This presence ofIran, with Syria’s return to stabilization under a Russianumbrella, is something we are watching closely,” he said.

Israel has also been monitoring Iranian conduct sinceTrump quit the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran in May andreimposed US sanctions. The deal placed caps on nuclearprojects with bomb-making potential, though Iran deniedhaving such designs. Trump, with Israeli support, deemed thecaps insufficient. — Reuters

GAZA: A Palestinian horseman rides into the sunset on a beach on New Year’s Eve yesterday. — AFP

Israeli spy seespossible threatfrom Iraq asIran clout grows