Iraqi Parliament recommends dismissing Navy Commander over Kuwait shooting
Shafaq News- Baghdad
Iraq's parliamentary Security and Defense Committee recommended the removal of the naval force commander and two senior officers, holding the Naval Force Command and the Ministry of Defense fully responsible for a July 4 incident in which one Iraqi fisherman was killed and another wounded by Kuwaiti coast guard fire.
According to a committee report, the officers named for dismissal are Vice Admiral Mazen Abdulwahid Kaiban, commander of the Iraqi Naval Force; Rear Admiral Wael Abdulmohsen, director of naval operations; and Rear Admiral Laith Abdulsattar, commander of the Umm Qasr naval base, Iraq's principal military port on the Gulf.
Read more: Kuwait consulate in Basra faces protest over Iraqi fisherman’s death
The recommendations follow a hearing the committee convened on Thursday with military, security, and civilian officials. Documents, evidence, and the officials' answers to lawmakers' questions established that the incident resulted “from negligence by the Naval Force Command and its failure to protect Iraqi fishermen inside Iraqi territorial waters.”
According to the report, Kuwaiti personnel opened fire on Iraqi fishermen inside Iraqi territorial waters on July 4 and detained them. Fisherman Najm Abdullah Khalid Al-Tamimi was killed and a second fisherman sustained a head wound. The men were aboard the Iraqi fishing boat Durra.
Four other detainees “were subjected to insult and verbal abuse by Kuwaiti forces.”
The committee directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to open contacts with the Kuwaiti side to resolve outstanding issues, and asked the ministry to submit a formal protest memorandum to Kuwait over incidents involving Iraqi vessels and fishing boats, citing the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
A parliamentary committee, formed with the relevant government bodies, should follow up on the release of Iraqi fishermen currently detained or convicted in Kuwait in earlier incidents, and pursue compensation for confiscated Iraqi boats or demand their return.
Iraq's Foreign Ministry previously said it had raised the case with Kuwaiti authorities, who presented video footage of the incident and maintained that their forces had not intended to cause loss of life.
