Index on Censorship » Kuwait

Kuwait: 10-year sentence for Twitter blasphemer

Marta Cooper — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 11:33:13 +0000

A Kuwaiti man was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Monday after being convicted of endangering state security as a result of messages he sent on Twitter. The judge found Hamad al-Naqi guilty of insulting the prophet Muhammad and Islam, and insulting the rulers of neighbouring Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Al-Naqi pleaded innocent at the start of the trial last month, saying his Twitter account had been hacked and he had not posted the messages.

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Kuwait: Blogger sentenced to ten years in prison

Alice Purkiss — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:05:30 +0000

A Kuwaiti blogger has been sentence to ten years in prison and fined 1000 Kuwaiti dinars for ”insulting the Prince and his powers” in poems uploaded on YouTube. Lawrence al-Rashidi was initially accused of ”spreading false news and rumors about the situation in the country” and ”calling on tribes to confront the ruling regime, and bring down its transgressions” in June 2011. The blogger is also being tried as a result of posts on Twitter, deemed to be “an insult to the princely identity” by authorities.

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Kuwait: Writer imprisoned

Marta Cooper — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:08:36 +0000

Kuwaiti writer Mohamed al-Melify was jailed for seven years on Monday on charges of spreading false statements via Twitter. He was arrested last February, and the Kuwait Criminal Court found him guilty of spreading false news about sectarian divisions in the country and publishing insults about Shiism, in addition to charges of libel and defaming a member of the Kuwaiti National Assembly, Ahmed Lari.

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Kuwait: Art exhibition shut down for “controversial” content

Alice Purkiss — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 13:36:16 +0000

An art exhibition in Kuwait has been shut down three hours after opening. A group of men entered the exhibition of a collection of paintings from Kuwaiti artist Shurooq Amin, and removed the paintings, claiming they had received a complaint over their content. Amin told Al-Qabas newspaper that those who closed down the show misinterpreted the meaning of the paintings to be disrespectful of the society’s tradition.

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Kuwait: Daily newspaper suspended for “creating sectarian strife”

Alice Purkiss — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 11:57:46 +0000

The suspension of a privately owned newspaper in Kuwait has been extended for the second time. Daily paper Al-Dar was suspended in an emergency session on 2 February after authorities accused the paper of violating the Press and Publications Law by “undermining national unity” and “creating sectarian strife”. The accusations followed the publication in January of three articles defending the country’s Shiite minority. Kuwait’s Press Court extended the ban on Monday until at least 12 March when the court will meet again. Abdul Hussein al-Sultan, Al-Dar’s editor-in-chief believes the paper was suspended to prevent coverage of the February 2 parliamentary elections.

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Kuwait: Government backs crackdown on stateless protests

Alice Purkiss — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:14:03 +0000

The Kuwait government has supported the suppression of “stateless” protesters by security forces over the weekend. Protests demanding citizenship rights turned violent, and riot police fired tear gas and used batons to disperse protesters. A statement issued after Kuwait’s weekly cabinet meeting said: “The council of ministers expresses its backing and support for the measures being taken by the interior ministry to … confront all forms of violence.” The statement also said that only ”enemies of Kuwait” benefited from such unrest. Dozens were wounded and over 100 arrested during the protests.

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Kuwait: Man jailed for comments on Twitter

Sara Yasin — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:15:08 +0000

Sunni activist Mubarak al-Bathali has been sentenced to three months in jail by a Kuwaiti court for comments about Shiite Muslims made on his Twitter account. A few weeks ago, he was arrested by secret police, and charged with “undermining national unity” as well as “disparaging Shiites”.

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Kuwait: TV Channel and newspapers shut down

Index on Censorship — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 12:05:52 +0000

The Kuwaiti satellite channel Mubasher and newspaper Al-Mustaqbal, both owned by Shaikh Fahd Salem Al Ali have been banned by the country’s ministry of commerce on a request by the ministry of information. The ministry of commerce cited ”irregularities” as reason for the closures, however the Arabic Network for Human Rights alleges that the real reason is the broadcast of anti-government seminars and demonstrations by the channel.

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Kuwait: Al Jazeera office shut down

Intern — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 17:15:44 +0000

Al Jazeera’s office in Kuwait City has been shut down after the news channel broadcast footage of police brutality against members of the Kuwaiti opposition. The footage showed police beating activists, and the channel aired interviews with members of the Kuwaiti opposition. Four Kuwaiti members of parliament and a dozen citizens were injured in the incident. The official reason for the closure given to Al Jazeera was “the latest developments and your interference in Kuwait’s internal affairs”. Al Jazeera’s Kuwait office was previously closed in November 2002 in the run-up to the US led invasion of Iraq.

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Kuwait: Ban pornographic sites on BlackBerry

Index on Censorship — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 15:51:30 +0000

Kuwait has asked BlackBerry’s Canadian maker RIM to block pornographic sites though they will not suspend the messenger services like their Gulf neighbours. RIM have agreed to block 3,000 porn sites and have promised to do so by the end of this year.

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