Kuwaiti MP wanted in Bahrain flees to Syria

Manama : A wanted Kuwaiti MP in Bahrain managed to escape to Syria in a bid to evade from an international arrest warrant. The controversial Kuwaiti Parliamentarian Abdulhamid Dashti was sentenced in absentee to two years of imprisonment by a Bahraini court in December for his involvement in illegal fundraising activities in the Kingdom.

Bahrain’s Public Prosecution issued an arrest warrant against Dashti and confirmed that it had been circulated internationally through the Interpol.

The MP recently posted pictures on social media accounts, showing him arriving in Damascus and visiting various sites there. He was previously predicted by political analysts to escape from Geneva, Switzerland, where he was staying at the time when the Interpol issued an arrest warrant.

This comes after his office claimed on the same day of the Bahraini Public Prosecution announcement that Dashti was admitted to a hospital in Geneva due to heart complications, which apparently resulted in arm paralysis and the office hinted that he could be transferred to London to continue his treatment.

Analysts and activists said Dashti was attempting to evade from the arrest by travelling to London, as they claimed that “authorities in Switzerland would swiftly handover fugitives to the Interpol, unlike the British, who have their own prolonged procedures.”

Besides, Kuwait’s National Assembly (Parliament) has lifted the parliamentary immunity off Dashti, following a request submitted by the Kuwaiti Justice Ministry, who mentioned that it’s because of state security related cases, which included insulting the Kingdoms of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Dashti had repeatedly made hostile statements against Bahrain and even called for a military strike against Saudi Arabia in an interview with a pro-Syrian regime television channel.