KUWAIT -

After a career full of giving, Kuwait bid farewell to Dr. Ahmed Al-Khatib, one of the most famous politicians, a former deputy in the National Assembly, and one of the writers of the Kuwaiti constitution, at the age of 95.

Al-Khatib passed away last Sunday, and Kuwait attended him yesterday, Monday, in a solemn funeral, with a large official and popular presence.

Al-Khatib is a well-known figure in the national work in Kuwait, whether through his parliamentary work since the Constituent Assembly, or through his political and social work for 70 years.

Al-Khatib - who is the younger brother of the pioneer of the theatrical movement Oqab Al-Khatib - was born in Kuwait City in 1927. He is the first doctor to hold a human medicine degree in the history of Kuwait. He is also one of the founders of the Arab Nationalist Movement, and head of the Committee of Doctors of the late Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah.

He began his academic life at Al-Mubarakiya School, then moved to Al-Anjari School, where he learned the Noble Qur’an and the principles of reading, then traveled to Beirut in 1942 to study medicine at the American University there.

Al-Khatib graduated in 1952 with a specialization in general medicine and surgery, and worked directly at the Amiri Hospital in Kuwait for a year and a half, after which he traveled to London to complete his studies and return again to Kuwait.

Al-Khatib was one of the deputies of the Constituent Assembly (Kuwaiti Press)

Political life

Al-Khatib’s political career began before independence, and that was in Beirut when he and his colleagues at the American University formed the Arab Nationalist Movement in 1952. After Kuwait gained its independence in 1961, the late Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah decided to establish a democratic system, and to put in place a permanent constitution for the country that would stem from it. At that time, it was decided to hold elections to choose representatives from the people to draft the constitution.

Al-Khatib ran in the first elections for the Constituent Assembly for the third constituency, and won first place with 360 votes, to run for the position of Vice President of the Constituent Assembly in 1963.

Al-Khatib continued his journey in political life, participating in the Kuwaiti National Assembly elections in 1965, 1967, 1971, 1975, 1981, 1985 and 1992, after which he decided to retire from parliamentary work in 1996 to give the youth an opportunity to complete the construction and reform process.

Al-Khatib Foundations of the National Movement in Kuwait (Kuwaiti Press)

national movement

Al-Khatib was the one who laid the first building block in the nationalist movement that believed in Arabist ideas, and he said about this: “I began to form the organization of the national movement, and the first cells were formed from those I worked with in the past and from new activists, and work focused on graduates, teachers, high school students, oil workers and juniors Merchants".

He, along with others, founded the Al-Ahly Club, a sports club in which a cultural committee was formed, and then participated in the founding of the National Cultural Club, to be its extension in the sixties, the Independence Club. in Kuwait.

Al-Khatib was distinguished by his political courage, and he was famous for not knowing the term "red lines", as they are - according to his opinion - fictitious lines made by the political reality experienced by all countries.