Kuwaiti Shiite MP slammed just for visit to Hezbollah commander’s family ‘Emad Mughniyeh’

A Kuwaiti member of parliament has stirred up controversy after he visited the family of Martyr Imad Mughniyah, an assassinated senior member of the Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah.

Abd al-Hamid Dashti posted a picture of himself kissing the head of Mughniyah’s father during a visit in Beirut to the family of the military commander.

Pictures of the Shia MP’s visit went viral, including another recent picture during a meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, with the some extremist Kuwaiti social media users condemning his actions.

National Assembly Speaker Marzouq al-Ghanim tweeted, “MP Dashti’s behaviour is unacceptable, irresponsible and provocative. It certainly does not work towards national unity, he must be held responsible for his actions.”

“We can do nothing but condemn our colleague MP Dashti’s visit to Mughniyah’s family even if his opinion is different from that of Kuwaitis, who believe Mughniyah hijacked our plane and shed the blood of our people,” MP Nabeel al-Fadhel tweeted.

Dashti responded to his critics saying his visit to the family of the “martyr” was to support the Lebanese resistance.

“I have exercised my human and constitutional right to have an opinion and I am not asking anyone to adopt the same opinion,”

“However if you think I am merely a member of the Shia ‘community’ and not a full Kuwaiti citizen that is unacceptable and I step on that with my shoes because I am your compatriot,” he said.

In 2008, the senior Hezbollah military commander was assassinated in Damascus in a joint operation between the CIA and Israel’s Mossad.

In May, Dashti got into a fracas with a rival MP over Kuwait’s role in the Saudi-led war in Yemen against Houthi and innocent people.