Agence France Presse -- Arab News

KUWAIT CITY, 24 February 2004 — A senior Kuwaiti lawmaker yesterday called on Interior Minister Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah to explain why four Bahraini opposition leaders were denied entry to the emirate last week.

MP Ahmad Al-Saadun, a three-time former speaker, requested in a parliamentary question to know the “actual reasons for denying the Bahraini citizens from entering Kuwait.” He said that through personal contacts with Sheikh Nawaf, who is also the first deputy premier, he was told the ban was imposed in response to a request by Bahraini authorities.

But Saadun said Manama has officially denied it was behind the Kuwaiti government decision to refuse entry to the opposition figures. “We want clarification of this ambiguity” and contradiction, said Saadun, who was himself barred from entering Bahrain two weeks ago to prevent him attending a constitutional conference held by the Bahraini opposition.

Ali Salman, head of the Islamic National Accord Association, and Ibrahim Shareef of the leftist National Democratic Action Association, were sent back on the same plane after arriving in Kuwait on Feb. 18.

Meanwhile, another opposition lawmaker formally requested a parliamentary grilling of Finance Minister Mahmoud Al-Nouri over allegations of failure to perform his duties and protect public funds.

MP Mussallam Al-Barrak cited in his 30-page request “financial, constitutional and legal” violations he claims were committed by the minister at a cost of millions of dollars to state coffers.

The public questioning, the first in the current parliament which was elected last July, is set to strain already tense government-parliament relations.