11 Jan 11 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost, News and features
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.
14 Dec 10 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
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.
03 Aug 10 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost, News and features
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.
16 Jul 10 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
A court in Kuwait City has acquitted a journalist prosecuted for insulting Kuwait’s Prime Minister. Journalist Mohammed Abdel Qader Al-Jassem and activist Khaled Al-Fadala, had their charges dropped on 12 July . Al-Jassem was accused of libelling the prime minister on a talk show entitled “Who is to blame, the government or the parliament?”. Al-Fadala’s case was initiated following an official complaint from the prime minister following the activist’s claim that the prime minister was an “enemy of freedom of expression” in Kuwait. Al-Jassem was jailed after he was convicted of slander in April 2010 in a separate case.
