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Kuwait: Director of MoI Security Media Department Sentenced to 30 Years Imprisonment

Fomer Director of MoI Security Media and Public Relations Department Brigadier Adel Al-Hashash (KUNA)
Fomer Director of MoI Security Media and Public Relations Department Brigadier Adel Al-Hashash (KUNA)
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Kuwait: Director of MoI Security Media Department Sentenced to 30 Years Imprisonment

Fomer Director of MoI Security Media and Public Relations Department Brigadier Adel Al-Hashash (KUNA)
Fomer Director of MoI Security Media and Public Relations Department Brigadier Adel Al-Hashash (KUNA)

Kuwaiti Criminal Court sentenced Brigadier General Adel al-Hashash to 30 years in prison in the case of seizing public funds, known in the media as “interior ministry hospitality.”

The case also includes 24 other defendants such as officials of the Ministries of Interior and Finance, who are accused of fraud and gross negligence, abuse of public money, and money laundering.

The court also ruled that Sheikh Ahmed al-Khalifa, of the royal family, be imprisoned for a period of two years with a suspension of enforcement on a KD 5,000 bail.

The court ordered Hashash and others to return KD120 million. He was also stripped from his position as the Director of MoI Security Media Department.

The verdict was issued after the court had heard the Public Prosecution’s pleading in the previous session, in which it noted that corruption drains the national economy, and warned those who underestimate the capabilities of the Kuwaiti people

The defense team pleaded for dropping the charges against their clients.

Hashash offered in previous sessions of the criminal court to pay the amount of embezzled money, about KD10 million, for his release pending the decision of the case, but his request was denied.

The Public Prosecution Office seized real estate assets of Hashash valued at about KD35 million out of the tens of millions that were seized from public money.

The court sentenced Waleed al-Sanea to 17 years in prison for the charges of facilitating the takeover of funds from the Ministry of Interior and money laundering resulting from the seizure.

Abdullah al-Hammadi was also sentenced to 17 years in prison for two counts of facilitating the appropriation of the Ministry of Interior funds and of laundering funds resulting from seizure.

Two convicts, Hamad al-Tuwaijri and Abdullah al-Mashari were sentenced to a period of 15 years each.

The court ordered the 10 years imprisonment of Iqbal al-Khalfan, Mohammed al-Kazemi, Ghosoun al-Khaled, Ali Mounir Haddad, Abdullah Harouni, and Mohammed Kamal Ballout.

The public prosecution also fined three hotels and seven floral and electrical appliances companies with KD40 million and ordered the permanent closure of the companies for their association with money laundering crimes in the same case.

In 2016, Hashash was director of the Public Relations Department and the official spokesman of the Ministry of Interior. He misused his position to embezzle funds of the ministry, under the pretext of spending on conferences and hospitality security delegations.

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With UNRWA Fate Unclear, UN and Israel Argue over Who’s Responsible for Palestinians

Palestinians, including children, hold metal pots and pans as they gather to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 10 January 2025. (EPA)
Palestinians, including children, hold metal pots and pans as they gather to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 10 January 2025. (EPA)
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With UNRWA Fate Unclear, UN and Israel Argue over Who’s Responsible for Palestinians

Palestinians, including children, hold metal pots and pans as they gather to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 10 January 2025. (EPA)
Palestinians, including children, hold metal pots and pans as they gather to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 10 January 2025. (EPA)

The United Nations and Israel are arguing over who must fill the gap if the UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA stops working in the Gaza Strip and West Bank later this month when an Israeli law comes into force.

UNRWA still operates in the Palestinian territories, but it is unclear what awaits the nearly 75-year-old agency when the law banning its operation on Israeli land and contact with Israeli authorities takes effect.

The UN and Israel have been engaged in tit-for-tat letter writing since the law on UNRWA was passed in late October. Shortly after, the UN told Israel it was not the world body's responsibility to replace UNRWA in the Palestinian territory - Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

In a letter to the UN General Assembly and Security Council late on Thursday, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said if UNRWA was forced to stop operating then Israel "would be left to ensure that the range of services and assistance which UNRWA has been providing are provided" in accordance with its obligations under international law.

Guterres wrote that while other UN agencies were prepared to continue providing services and assistance to the Palestinians - to the extent they can - that "must not be viewed as releasing Israel from its obligations."

The United Nations views Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as Israeli-occupied territory. International law requires an occupying power to agree to and facilitate relief programs and ensure food, medical care, hygiene and public-health standards.

In a Dec. 18 letter to the world body, Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon said the new legislation "does not in any way undermine Israel's steadfast commitment to international law." He also rejected UN claims that Israel would be responsible for filling any gap left by UNRWA.

He wrote that Israel does not exercise effective control over Gaza and therefore is not an occupying power, adding that the law of military occupation also does not apply. He said that in the West Bank the responsibility of the Palestinian Authority for civilian affairs "must not be overlooked."

"In Jerusalem, all residents are entitled to government and municipal services under Israeli law," said Danon, adding that included health and education services. Israel annexed East Jerusalem in a move not recognized abroad.

HEALTH, EDUCATION AT RISK

Israel has long been critical of UNRWA. It says UNRWA staff took part in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. The UN has said nine UNRWA staff may have been involved and were fired. A Hamas commander in Lebanon - killed in September by Israel - was also found to have had an UNRWA job.

The United States has said its ally Israel must ensure the new law does not further impede aid deliveries and critical services, including by UNRWA, in Gaza, which has been engulfed in a humanitarian crisis during the war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas group.

But it has also questioned UN contingency planning.

State Department officials met this week with the transition team of incoming US President Donald Trump - who takes office on Jan. 20 - and raised concerns about how the crisis in Gaza could deepen once the UNRWA law is implemented, said a US official.

UNRWA, established by the UN General Assembly, provides aid, health and education services to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and neighboring Arab countries - Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

Guterres said UNRWA's unique role could not be replaced. UN officials say it is the health, education and social services UNRWA provides in the Palestinian territory that would suffer most as other agencies cannot match its ability to deliver such help.

Danon argued that "replacing UNRWA with relief schemes that will adequately provide essential assistance to Palestinian civilians is not at all impossible," citing the aid operation in Gaza where he said other UN agencies were equipped to provide the necessary response "as they do elsewhere in the world."

Other agencies working in Gaza and the West Bank include the children's organization UNICEF, the World Food Program, the World Health Organization, and the UN Development Program. But top UN officials and the Security Council describe UNRWA as the backbone of the current humanitarian operation in Gaza.

Israel launched an assault on Hamas in Gaza after the fighters killed 1,200 people in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and took some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to Palestinian health officials. Much of the enclave has been laid waste and most of the 2.3 million people have been displaced multiple times. Food experts warn of a looming famine.