Lawmakers vote during a session of Iraq’s Parliament in Baghdad in an undated file photo.
Iraq parliament moves to sack three navy commanders after Kuwait kills fisherman
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Parliament on Sunday approved recommendations from its Security and Defense Committee calling for the removal of three senior naval commanders over the fatal shooting of an Iraqi fisherman by the Kuwaiti Coast Guard, and urging that the victim be recognized as a martyr and his family compensated.
The recommendations call for relieving Naval Forces Commander Maj. Gen. Mazen Abdulwahid Kaiban, Director of Naval Operations Maj. Gen. Wael Abdulmohsen and Umm Qasr Naval Base Commander Maj. Gen. Laith Abdul Sattar of their duties, after the committee blamed the killing on “the negligence of the Naval Forces Command and its failure to perform its duties in protecting Iraqi fishermen in Iraqi territorial waters.”
Lawmakers approved recognizing slain fisherman Najm Abdullah al-Tamimi as a martyr under the Defense Ministry’s legal framework, with the ministry responsible for his family’s rights, and covering the medical costs of wounded fisherman Dhaif Salman. They also formed a committee to press for the release of Iraqi fishermen held in Kuwait, compensation for those whose boats were seized, and the return of the vessels.
Parliament further called on the Defense Ministry to investigate and publicly name those responsible, urged the Foreign Ministry to lodge a formal protest with Kuwait, and directed several ministries to tighten regulation of fishing, clarify permitted areas and improve maritime monitoring and rescue. It summoned the foreign minister, the armed forces chief of staff and the Basra governor to answer questions on this and earlier incidents.
Tamimi was killed during a confrontation with the Kuwaiti Coast Guard in the waters off Faw. Iraqi officials said he was fatally shot and another fisherman wounded, while three others were detained. Earlier this month Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein traveled to Kuwait with National Security Adviser Qasim al-Aboudi and Basra Governor Asaad al-Eidani and secured the fishermen’s release and the return of Tamimi’s body. Iraq’s Foreign Ministry said Kuwaiti authorities presented video footage, maintained the shooting happened at night and was unintentional, and that Hussein rejected the incident, secured the <a href=”https://en.964media.com/49332/”>return of the victim’s body</a> and agreed to establish clearer coordination in Khor Abdullah.