Kuwaiti MP reportedly receives ‘death threat’ for anti-expat remarks

Kuwaiti MP Safa Al-Hashem has received a “death threat” over her controversial remarks pertaining to expatriates in the country, local daily Kuwait Times reported.

The report cited the lawmaker as saying that “she received a threat to her life after calling on the government to impose charges on expatriates for everything they do, including taxing the air they breathe in the country”.

Hashem said the threat was sent through email, and that had she filed a complaint with the interior ministry.

She claimed that she had also received death threats some months ago when she had called for taxing expatriates in the country.

The only female member in Kuwait’s 50-seat National Assembly, Hashem has frequently drawn controversy for her ‘anti-expat’ comments.

Earlier this week, she claimed “importing” expatriates and offering them administrative jobs in the government was one of the main reasons for the high unemployment rate among Kuwaitis.

In June, she urged the GCC state to expel close to two million expatriates from the country over the next five years to rectify its ‘demographic imbalance’.

She said that it was essential to have Kuwaitis number more than 50 per cent of the country’s population.

Currently, Kuwaitis account for less than 30 per cent of the country’s 4.7 million population at 1.42 million.

Read: Kuwaiti MP calls for expelling close to 2 million expats, urges remittance tax

Hashem also recently suggested that the government must impose fees on expats who visit public beaches and called for expats to pay fees to use the recently opened Sheikh Jaber Causeway.

Read: Kuwaiti MP calls for imposing fees on expats for using beaches, causeway

In the past, along with calling for expats to be charged “for the air they breathe”, she also submitted proposals such as a $3,300 fee for foreign workers to obtain driving licences and a 10-year limit on their stay in the country.

Read: Kuwait MP proposes $3,300 fee for expat driving licences

Kuwait MP calls for 10-year limit for foreign workers