MANILA: Kuwait will allow the Philippines to join an investigation into the death of a Filipino maid allegedly killed by her employer last December.
Details of the decision were announced by Kuwait’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Khaled Al-Jarallah, in a meeting with Philippines presidential adviser Abdullah Mama-o and envoy Noordin Lomondot last week.
The officials also discussed the Philippines’ decision to stop its citizens working in Kuwait until an inquiry into the death of Jeanelyn Villavende has been completed and Kuwait honors a labor agreement signed by the two countries in 2018.
Mama-o praised the Kuwaiti government for its handling of the Villavende case, including the arrest of her employers.
Kuwaiti authorities have not released the names of her employers who have been jailed since the incident. Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry is expected to release details of a police investigation and autopsy reports soon.
The Philippines and Kuwait also agreed to hold a joint meeting on a 2018 agreement on the employment of domestic workers.
Assistant Secretary Eduardo Meсez, a Department of Foreign Affairs official, told Arab News that Kuwait had “voiced its dismay over the Philippine government’s decision to impose a ban on the deployment of workers (to their country).”
Kuwaiti Assistant Foreign Minister for Consular Affairs Samie Al-Hamad said that the “appalling crime” is uncommon and “against our Islamic values.
“The legal action taken against the culprits reflects Kuwait’s keenness to apply the law, and guarantee the safety and protection of all those living on its soil,” Al-Hamad said.
Kuwait is a “favorable destination” for people of different nationalities, including 250,000 Filipino workers, he added.
Manila to join inquiry into Filipino maid’s death in Kuwait
https://arab.news/485f5
Manila to join inquiry into Filipino maid’s death in Kuwait
- They discussed the Philippines’ decision to stop its citizens working in Kuwait
- Kuwait is expected to release details of a police investigation and autopsy reports soon
Israel army kills West Bank attacker who tried to run over troops
- The Palestinian civil affairs authority named the man as 20-year-old Qais Sami Jaser Allan, adding that he “was shot by the occupation forces between the towns of Einabus and Awarta”
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said its troops shot dead a man who tried to run over a group of soldiers in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday.
The incident occurred in Einabus in the northern West Bank, the military said.
“A short while ago, a report was received regarding a terrorist who attempted to run over IDF (Israeli army) soldiers operating in the area of Einabus,” the military said.
“In response, the soldiers fired at the terrorist and eliminated him.”
The Palestinian Red Crescent said it rescued three people after the Israeli army opened fire near Einabus on a vehicle with Palestinian license plates.
“Two of the wounded were shot, and one of them is in critical condition. The third was injured as a result of being beaten,” the Red Crescent said.
The Palestinian civil affairs authority named the man as 20-year-old Qais Sami Jaser Allan, adding that he “was shot by the occupation forces between the towns of Einabus and Awarta.”
The incident came just days after a Palestinian from the West Bank ran over an Israeli in his sixties with his vehicle and later stabbed an 18-year-old girl to death in northern Israel.
The perpetrator was killed during the attack.
Following that incident on Friday, the military conducted a two-day operation in the West Bank town of Qabatiya from where the attacker came, detaining several residents including his father and brothers.
Since the start of the war in Gaza following Hamas’s attack on Israel in October 2023, violence has also surged in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
Israeli troops and settlers have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians in the territory, including many militants as well as dozens of civilians, according to an AFP tally based on figures from the Palestinian health ministry.
According to official Israeli figures, at least 44 Israelis, both soldiers and civilians, have also been killed in Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations in the same period in the West Bank.
