Conditions of activists,

and the freedom of speech and press in the State of Kuwait

by Sabine Hassoun

Table of Content• Part 1: A brief introduction

about Kuwait• Part 2: NPD documents and

reports• Part 3: Factual situation in

Kuwait from local reports and articles

• Part 4: Analysis of the basis of claim

• Part 5: Conclusion and personal insight

Part1: A brief intorduction about Kuwait

• Geography:• Kuwait is relatively small

country in the Middle East, placed geographically with a strategic location at head of Persian Gulf, between Iraq and Saudi Arabia,

Area:17,818 sq. km

Total population: 2,832,776 (July 2016 est.)

*map of Kuwait as part of the Middle EastSource: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ku.html

Economy:Kuwait has wealthy, relatively open economy with crude oil reserves of about more than 6% of world reserves. Petroleum accounts for over half of GDP (Gross Domestic Product), 94% of export revenues, and 90% of government income.

Legal System:Shari’a (Islamic law) is the main source of legislations. The Articles (1:3) of the Constitution of Kuwait states that “Kuwait is an Arab State, independent and fully sovereign. Neither its sovereignty nor any part of its territory may be relinquished.. Its religion is Islam and Shari’a law is main source of its legislations. Its political system is democratic..”

The legal system of Kuwait is a combination of British common law, French civil law, Islamic legal principles, and Egyptian law. However, Kuwait lacks an independent judiciary. The emir appoints all judges, and the executive branch approves judicial promotions.* *https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2016/kuwait

Part 2: NDP documents and reports• According to the executive

summary of the report on Human Rights Practices for 2015- Department of State- Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, on 13 April 2015, describing the main issue of human rights violations in Kuwait, the report states the following:

• “Principal human rights problems included limitations on citizens’ ability to change their government; restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly, especially among foreign workers and stateless Arabs (called “bidoon”).

• Other human rights problems included reports of security force members’ abusing prisoners and protesters, arbitrary arrest and extrajudicial deportation of foreign workers; limitations on freedoms of press, association, worker rights, and religion; and restrictions on freedom of movement for certain groups”

Feedom of speech and expression according to the report

• The report indicates that: “courts convicted dozens of persons for insulting the emir, the judiciary, neighboring states, or religion on their social media sites. Several cases involved questioning authorities’ competency, decisions, or honesty, and resulted in jail terms of up to 10 years. “

Media Freedoms report:• Report on Freedom of the

press 2015 by Freedom House:

• Although the Press and Publications Law also extends some important protections to the media, it prohibits the publication of material that insults God, the prophets, or Islam. It also forbids criticism of the emir, the disclosure of secret or private information, and statements calling for the overthrow of the regime.

... authorities monitor online communications for defamation and security threats, and the Ministry of Communications (MOC) blocks websites that are suspected of “inciting terrorism and instability.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8Deox2FC1A

Report on New Cyber Crimes Law restricts free expression and targets online activists, by “Reporters Without Borders”

• The report expresses concerns about the new Cyber Crimes Law no.63 on freedom of expression and online activism in Kuwait which has come into force in Jan2016.

Part 3: Factual Situation in Kuwait

• Legislation:• 1-Constitutional law:• Although the Kuwaiti

constitution grants the right of freedom of opinion and expression, article 36 and 37 of the constitution restricts that right by forcing the actions taken to be in accordance with the conditions and procedures specified by law.

• 2- Press and Publications Law 3/2006:

• The law regulates matters prohibited from publishing in the Print or the Newspaper, specifically Articles 19 to 24 and grants the criminal court the authority to decide on all penal lawsuits that are stipulated under this law.

• The penalties for violations extends to up to 10,000 Kuwaiti Dinar (CAD43,333) , limit of penalties extends on Chief editor and the article writer for violating the law, to up to one year imprisonment and a fine up to 20,000 Kd

3-Cybercrimes Law, Jan.2016

On June 2015, the parliament passed a Cybercrime Law which contains several dispositions that reinforce the ongoing crackdown on peaceful criticism provides for prison sentences for "criticizing the Emir on the Internet" and up to 10 years in prison for using the Internet to attempt to "overthrow the ruling regime or incite the change of the system."

Articles from Arabic and local newspaper:

a.Sentencing activist and opposition leaders for “offending the Emir”An article published by Al-jazeera -which is a very well-known news broadcaster in the Middle East- dated 1 March 2015 reports sentencing Kuwait activist and opposition leader Musallam al-Barrak , a former member of parliament for two years, for insulting the Emir and for criticizing an election law that gives the ruling family more power.

b.arresting and detaining human rights activists for tweets deemed offensive to “Arabic leaders”• On Wednesday 29 Jan.

2015 an article published by KuwaitTimes, which is a local newspaper that publishes in English, regarding the arrest and detention of number of online activists allegedly for comments deemed offensive to Saudi Arabia’s late King Abduallah. The activist Mohammad Al-Ajmi was arrested for questioning over Tweets he made on Saudi Arabia.

Nawaf Al-Handal, a leading rights activist for the same reason.Former liberal MP Saleh Al-Mulla was detained for five days earlier this month for tweets deemed offensive to Egyptian President Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi during a visit to Kuwait. He is to stand trial on February 15.

A Kuwaiti court on sentenced Shiite lawmaker Abdulhameed Dashti to 11 years' jail in absentia for insults against the emirate's ruler and its neighbour Saudi Arabia.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfBJsRwUil4While former Islamist Mubarak Al-Duwailah was questioned over comments critical of Abu Dhabi’s rulers.

• Another source reports the sentence of a Blogger “Saleh al-Saeed was given an extended two-year sentence by the appeal court for allegedly undermining Kuwait-Saudi relations”, reported Middle East Eye on 18 Feb. However, the sentence was extended to 6 years and was upheld by the supreme court on 12 June 2015.

c. Mistreatment and torture by authorities of detained activists.

On Article published by Gulf Center for human rights on 20 June 2016, the mistreatment of a Human rights defender Abdulhakim Al-fadhli was reported, the article confirms that AlFadhli was beaten by police as sentence reduced while being transferred from court to prison, when he was subjected to beatings at the hands of three policemen, leaving him with a bruise and a visible injury on his forehead.

d. Government shuts down local newspapers, and local courts uphold the decisions. • An article published by a Committee

to protect journalists’ website, on 19 Feb2015 announces the court’s decision of upholding government’s shutdown of Al-Watan newspaper.

• The article states that “Al-Watan has been harassed by authorities in recent years as well. In April 2014, a Kuwaiti court suspended the paper and another daily, Alam Al-Youm.

Part 4: Analysis of the Basis of Claim

The basis of claim that an activist in Kuwait can present under Geneva Convention is : “Fear of persecution or serious harm at the hands of the state due to the person’s membership of a particular social group or political opinion.”

Elements within the defintion of a Convention Refugee:

1-Persecution link to one or more of the Convention Grounds:Examples of “membership in a particular social group”• The Supreme Court of Canada in

Ward gives example of each category, as follow: ….while the second would encompass, for example, human rights activists.

Definition of political opinion :

"any opinion on any matter in which the machinery of state, government, and policy may be engaged"

2-The elements of Serious Harm

1-Activists are denied expression and exercising of a substance right.

2-They are being mistreated by the State authorities, detained, arrested, and imprisoned for expressing their opinions.

3-Media are set under extreme limitations and under the risk of being closed down by the authorities for unjustified reasons.

4- The law provides serious penalty which prevents editors, journalists, activist from enjoying the freedom of expressing their opinion or by defending other social groups’ rights.

5- A clear denial of a core human right, especially the new law that extends to limiting any opinion that can be published on the internet or the social media, or social networks like facebook and twitter and WhatsApp.

6- Forms of harm are persistent and repeated often looking at the number of activists or people arrested for tweeting or for writing an opinion that disagrees with the state’s policy or religious acts or any other matter that is restricted by law.

3-Well-founded fear of persecution

As the definition of a Convention refugee is forward-looking, the question is whether the claimant has good grounds for fearing persecution in the future? the answer is yes, as long as the Kuwaiti authorities kept these practices against activists or against individuals expressing their opinions,

• The situation is unlikely to change since the Kuwaiti government are issuing new laws to restrict freedom of expression thorough the media and publishing or even on the internet, taking into consideration that the emir, has the last say in state matters, and is described as "immune and inviolable" in the constitution and is shielded from criticism by the penal code.

Conclusion:• All the above mentioned factors

prove that a person or an activist who expresses his/her opinion in any matter that is restricted by Kuwait Law are subject to persecution.

• Objective fear test is evident in our case and the national documentary packages evidence describes that situation in Kuwait.

Subjective fear is proven through the evidence describing the factual situation in the country and the fear of each activists to express their opinion, which can be seen as more than good grounds for fearing persecution, especially that the restrictions have extended to the posts on the internet on different social network websites.

A personal insight:I believe that all documents provided by the National Documentation Package give an insight about the overall situation of activists, and the media (in cluding prints and publications) in Kuwait.Besides the documentary evidences about the factual situation in the country,and above all, the persecution of activists and the punishment and penalty imposed on them, and on the press that has been taken over in the past few years by the government ..

are all serious indications of persecution of this group of people.Alternatively, the unlimited powers of the Emir that interferes with the legislative, judicial and executive system in Kuwait and therefore lacks any independency.These are elements that would definitely support the allegation of persecution by the claimant as long as the State of Kuwait keep executing such practices against such group of people, and as long as it keeps these type of laws in effect.

Thank you :)