JEDDAH, 10 April 2006 — The issue of a Saudi’s relentless quest for money he claims is owed to him by a Kuwaiti diplomat took a new turn with his decision to launch a hunger strike in Kuwait City on Friday until his demands are met, a local Arabic daily reported yesterday.
Rashid Kareem (Abu Sahir) of Tabuk had been to Kuwait several times over the past 16 years in an attempt to recoup a large sum of money a Kuwaiti diplomat owed him but of no avail.
“I had no other option but to stop consuming food and water in the light of the negligent attitude from Kuwaiti authorities to my legitimate demands and get my money back and thus end my woes which no one but Allah knows, particularly as I have exhausted all other means. I have knocked at all the doors including the Saudi Embassy in Kuwait,” Al-Riyadh newspaper quoted Abu Sahir as saying.
The Saudi claims he is virtually a pauper because he was cheated by the diplomat whom he helped buy a herd of camels worth several thousands of riyals.
Exploiting the ties of friendship, the diplomat had asked the Saudi to act as a guarantor between him and the camel traders as he did not have the money to pay for the animals. Abu Sahir readily agreed as the diplomat had promised him that the money would be sent to the traders within a matter of weeks.
However the diplomat did not keep his word and the traders initiated legal action against the Saudi. He was jailed and finally had to pay up the large sum of money the diplomat owed to the traders by selling every thing he owned including his house, farms and even the car.
The Saudi mission in Kuwait has taken all the necessary steps, such as appointing a lawyer to pursue the matter, the paper said.
A few days ago Abu Sahir had chained himself and perched in a precarious position on the high wall of a newspaper office in Kuwait in order to attract the attention of the media to his problems.
Hamad Al-Mohaisin of the Saudi citizens’ affairs section at the embassy, said “as the embassy is very keen to protect the interests of its citizens and it has taken all the necessary steps such as appointing a lawyer to legally follow up the issue after verifying all the documents supporting the man’s claims. The embassy has also contacted Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry to make the debtor pay him the money.”
The Foreign Ministry is the competent authority to decide on issues related to diplomats, the official added.
Abu Sahir also said all his woes started because he helped the diplomat’s brother who was involved in a car accident in Tabuk several years ago and they became friends after that, according to an earlier report.
