Kuwaiti politician Abdul Muttalib AlKazemi, the first oil minister in the State of Kuwait, passed away on Saturday, after a long struggle with illness, at the age of 85.
The late witnessed several prominent events during his career, the first of which was that he was a witness to the assassination of Saudi King Faisal bin Abdulaziz, and the last one who greeted him moments before his assassination, in the famous incident that occurred in 1975.
AlKazemi was at the time on an official visit to the Kingdom, where he mentioned in previous press interviews that when he entered the hall where King Faisal was, he grabbed his hand and bowed to shake hands with him to hear at the same moment a voice that he did not realize immediately, until King Faisal fell and heard voices calling for the arrest of those who fired.
As for Kazemi’s second stop, he was kidnapped with the rest of the “OPEC” ministers during their meeting in Vienna in the winter of 1975, after a group led by Elichramirez Sanchez, known as “Carlos the Fox,” attacked them. Their kidnapping continued for nearly two days, until they were released after negotiations with the kidnappers.
He is also the first oil minister in Kuwait, from 1975 to 1978, after the Ministry of Oil was separated from the Ministry of Finance.
Kazemi’s career during his tenure at the Ministry of Oil recorded historical milestones at the local level, most notably the establishment of the Ministry of Oil, and Kuwait’s decision to nationalize its oil in 1975.
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