Habib Toumi

Ali Tounsi

The chief of Algeria’s national security, Ali Tounsi, was shot dead in his office on Thursday shortly before noon, an Algerian daily has reported.

Witnesses quoted by Echorouk said Tounsi was killed by a 64-year-old retired army colonel who was hired by the national security agency to oversee the police helicopters unit.

According to the report, the officer had requested a brief private talk with Tounsi before the start of a larger meeting scheduled to discuss the findings of an investigation incriminating the retired colonel.

The paper said that following a heated argument, the officer took out his gun and fired more than five shots before turning it on himself. He is believed to be in a critical condition in a hospital in Ain Nadja, Echorouk said.

The victim had been in charge of the national security for the last 15 years when he was called from his retirement as head of intelligence to help in the fight against terrorism. He is largely credited with helping to establish peace in the country, following years of turmoil.

The interior ministry said in a statement that Tounsi was killed at around 10.45 am and that it started investigations into the assassination.

Shaikh Ahmad Al Abdullah

The move to grill the information minister following the airing of a show that allegedly denigrated Kuwait’s tribes has gathered pace among lawmakers.

“Things look bright and three more MPs have joined the 20 lawmakers who have already signed up for the quizzing of the minister,” Ali Al Deqbasi, the MP who filed to quiz Shaikh Ahmad Al Abdullah, said. “We are confident that more MPs will join us within the next few days,” he said in a statement published in the Kuwaiti media.

MP Mislim Al Barrak said that the evidence in the possession of the MPs keen on grilling the minister was enough to make other members of the parliament to call for action against him. He did not however explain the nature of the evidence.

The minister came under fire after a private television station, Al Sour, last year aired a show in which some of the guests denigrated tribesmen and said that they broke Kuwaiti law by holding dual citizenship. Tribesmen make up around half of the native population and also half of the parliament.

The station was taken off their air and its owner briefly detained. However, several MPs said that they wanted the minister to assume his responsibilities for not taking stringent action against media that “worked on dividing the country and eroding its unity.” continue reading…

MP Adel Al Mouawda

A Bahraini lawmaker has sharply criticized Arabs for their “eerie silence” that allowed Israel to designate two Islamic shrines on Palestinian territory as national heritage sites. MP Adel Al Mouawda also slammed Israel for its decision, saying that it amounted to waging a religious war on Muslims.

“Arabs have been so eerily silent that they have broken all records of collective passiveness and lapses into inaction,” Al Mouawda said. “Their passive attitude has encouraged the Israelis to disregard Muslims and their sacred sites and to do whatever they wanted,” said Al Mouawda who chairs the parliamentary committee for foreign affairs, defence and national security.

According to the Salafi lawmaker, the latest Israeli decision is the latest of a string of actions to “seize Islamic sanctities, Judaize Jerusalem and preserve the so-called Jewish character of the Zionist entity.”

“Every now and then, we see actions such as intrusions into the Aqsa Mosque and excavation work under the mosque as a prelude to destroying it. The policies of killing, torture, sieges and starvation continue unabated, and the latest is the assassination of Mahmoud Al Mabhouh,” he said. continue reading…