Kuwait, one of the few semi-democratic countries in the Middle East, and the parliament had only been in existence for one month, having been elected in April 2024, with opposition MPs gaining the majority of the seats. It had not even met yet before the Emir's dissolution decree.
Al-Tabtabai has been convicted of numerous crimes in the past, but while serving in the National Assembly enjoyed immunity. In December 2019, the former Emir of Kuwait pardoned him of past crimes. Now, with a new leader on the throne since December 12, 2023, al-Tabtabai has been arrested, and will face the full wrath of the law.
His arrest is not just the downfall of one man, but is a collective punishment of all the Muslim Brotherhood followers in Kuwait in the National Assembly or clerics, who have prevented the Kuwaiti government from necessary reforms to promote the peace and prosperity of all citizens.
The Muslim Brotherhood threat to Kuwait
Although Kuwait has among the largest oil reserves in the world, it lags far behind the dramatic pace of development as compared to its neighbors Saudi Arabia and UAE.
According to Hussain Abdul-Hussain, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), all Arab countries that witnessed change between 2004 and 2011 saw Islamists climb the ladder of democratic election to take over government. In Kuwait a hybrid system emerged that allowed for a free press and the democratic election of the National Assembly, but kept the last word for the Emir. Kuwait came close to being a constitutional monarchy.
Every time Kuwait elected its representatives and formed a cabinet, the gridlock returned. With a population of a million or so, it was expected to compete with Dubai and Abu Dhabi in terms of growth and attraction. Yet, the democratic gridlock inhibited growth, and the once-shiny Kuwait City became shabby and backward compared with its oil-rich peers.
One of the main problems of the Kuwaiti democracy was its Muslim Brotherhood, whose lawmakers undermined the government at every turn. Democracy had become synonymous with Islamist tyranny, where elections are held routinely, but the rule of law is always absent.
Al-Tabtabai the fundraiser
Since 2011, al-Tabtabai and other Kuwaitis were donating millions of dollars to fund the terrorists in Syria, who were not only targeting the government, but who were killing unarmed Syrian civilians in their homes and in the streets. The monies were flown from Kuwait to Turkey and Jordan, where the cash was distributed to the various terrorist groups.
Because Kuwait has been a US ally for decades, it was compliant with a directive from the Obama Oval Office to support the US-NATO attack on Syria.
The US, UK, France, Turkey and Jordan set up the "Friends of Syria" group, which allowed for donations outside the official channels to supply funds and supplies to the terrorists. Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar were among the biggest supporters of the US-NATO project, which supported Jabhat al-Nusra, Ahrar al-Sham, Jaysh al-Islam, and Al Qaeda.
In 2014, the Kuwaiti role involved not only creating military operation rooms and directing the course of certain battles, but also giving direct orders to commit massacres and then boasting about them.
Al-Tabtabai in Syria with the terrorists
Al-Tabtabai is known as the director of the siege and massacre of Nubl and al-Zahraa. He made sure that the aid collected in Kuwait reached the terrorists either in the form of cash to cover the fighters' salaries, or in the form of arms shipments, by numerous personal visits to Syria. One of his visits to Idlib lasted four months during which he participated in planning some attacks on civilians. Today, Idlib is the last terrorist-controlled area in Syria, and is commanded by Mohammed al-Julani, formerly of ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Jibhat al-Nusra and currently the head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. The US, UK and the UN continue to supply Idlib with truck-loads of humanitarian aid that first passes through the hands of Julani and his militia.
In September 2013, al-Tabtabai appeared in a video clip on YouTube during his participation in preparing and launching Grad missiles at Latakia, west of Idlib. The terrorists thanked al-Tabtabai for his support during the siege imposed on the two towns of Nubl and al-Zahraa in the Aleppo countryside. Those villages were populated by civilians who were Shite Muslims. The massacre of men, women and children carried out over months of attacks by the al-Tabtabai-supported terrorists were purely sectarian in nature, and had no military objective of bringing down the Syrian government.
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