Saleh Ashour

Saleh Ashour (

On October 10, 2005, Ashour asked the authorities to ensure protection for a Shiite mosque which was attacked by a fifty-person mob on a Friday night. The teenage mob set fire in a car in front of the mosque in al-Jahra city and threw stones at worshippers. Ashour added that the gathering raised banners against the Shiites, accusing them of helping the American forces in Iraq.[3]

Ashour further requested that the non-citizens who took part in the incident be deported: "the young persons who took part in the incident were not small children who did not know the results of their actions or the consequences of attacking a house of God."^[4]

Critical of redistricting

On May 13, 2009, the parliament voted 60-2 to reduce the number of districts from 25 to five. Ashour was critical of the redistricting on the grounds that the districts were uneven in size: "No one in the chamber is opposed to the five constituencies, but there are differences about the geographic distribution."^[5] Later that week, Ashour held a rally outside the parliament building, telling the crowd: "The government bill is unfair and racist. It discriminates between Kuwaitis. It gives 70,000 Kuwaiti voters twenty MPs and the remaining 250,000 thirty MPs. Is this fair?"^[6] Ashour also argued that the redistricting would promote tribalism.^[7]

Shiite Miniseries controversy

On September 16, 2007, Ashour and fellow Shia MP

Ashour charged that besides stoking sectarianism, the serial insults and distorts the Shia faith by mocking temporary marriage, a valid, sanctioned concept in Shiism despite the controversy and social taboos surrounding the practice.^[8]

Opposed zakat law

In November 2007, the parliament voted 51-2 to approve a law requiring all Kuwaiti public and shareholding companies to pay Zakat every year. Ashour voted against the law, arguing that it was discriminatory and that Shiites should demonstrate against it: "Passage of anti-minority laws in the Parliament will force us to voice out our objections through demonstrations and we will exhaust all legal means including the media to oppose such laws."^[9][10]

Criticized Education Minister Nouria al-Subeih

On January 22, 2008, the parliament voted 27-19, with two abstentions, against the impeachment of Education Minister Nouria al-Subeih.

In the lead-up to the vote, Ashour, Ali Al-Daqbaashi, Musallam Al-Barrak and Hussein Muzyed spoke against the minister while Khalaf Al-Enezi, Ali Al-Rashid, Mohammed Al-Sager, and Adel Al-Saraawi spoke in her defense.^[11]

Subeih had to defend herself against allegations that she had attempted to deceive the nation when she denied a press report that three male students had been

Islamist lawmaker Saad al-Shreih also accused Subeih of not showing enough respect for Islam when she did not punish a 14-year-old girl who had allegedly drawn a cross on her religion text book and scribbled notes on it that she hated Islam. The minister told the house there was no evidence the girl had actually done that and so she was just referred to counseling. Shreih, however, still managed to gather the requisite signatures of ten lawmakers to force the no-confidence vote.^[12]

Supporting women's rights reforms

On April 21, 2008, Ashour addressed a seminar on women’s

On August 11, 2008, Ashour submitted a bill that called for granting children born to Kuwaiti mothers and non-Kuwaiti fathers the Kuwaiti citizenship. He stressed that Kuwaiti women should be treated equally with men, as the Kuwaiti law automatically grants citizenship to children born to Kuwaiti fathers.[14]

Philanthropy

Ashour is involved in a number of philanthropic projects, including establishing religious and community centres in the African continent, including the Ahl al-Bayt centre in Tanzania.^[15]

References