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Amnesty International Report 2005 - Kuwait

Covering events from January - December 2004

The effects of the ongoing US-led "war on terror" and the deteriorating security situation in Iraq were felt in Kuwait. Arrests were made of individuals suspected of involvement with alleged militant groups, including those fighting against US forces in Iraq. Demands grew for reforms, particularly for women's political enfranchisement, and the government consequently reintroduced a bill to amend the electoral law. At least nine executions were reported.

Human rights developments

The first official human rights non-governmental organization in Kuwait was established in August when the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour granted a licence to the Kuwait Human Rights Society, some 10 years after it was formed.

In June, the Chair of the National Assembly's Human Rights Committee announced that, following a meeting of the Committee in which the Amnesty International Report 2004 was discussed, a committee would be formed to prepare an annual report on human rights in Kuwait. Plans to create a women's issues committee were also announced.

Diplomatic relations with Iraq were resumed in August. Kuwaiti forensic teams continued to inspect mass graves in Iraq. By the end of the year the total number of Kuwaiti prisoners of war whose remains had been identified had reached 190.

Arrests on grounds of national security

Security measures were tightened following a surge of violence in neighbouring Iraq and bombings in Saudi Arabia. In May the Gulf Cooperation Council signed a "counter-terrorism" pact, strengthening cooperation and coordination among security agencies and improving the exchange of intelligence information.

At least 20 people were reportedly arrested in a crackdown on those suspected of involvement with networks apparently enlisting Kuwaitis to fight US forces in Iraq. Those arrested alleged that they were tortured and ill-treated, denied access to lawyers, and forced to make confessions. On 28 November, 22 men went on trial in Kuwait City, charged with taking part in an aggressive act against a friendly country; raising funds for Islamist activists engaged in fighting US-led forces in Iraq; and illegal possession of weapons. Six suspects who attended the hearing denied the charges against them. The session was adjourned. At the end of the year, two of the suspects remained in custody, 16 had been released on bail, and four others, named previously by the Interior Ministry as wanted for questioning, remained at large.

• Hamad Nawaf al-Harbi, Mohamed Essa al-Asfour, Ahmed Abdullah al-Otaibi and Bader Hamlan al-Otaibi were arrested in July. They alleged that they were tortured by security forces, denied access to their lawyers during interrogation, and forced to make false confessions. The men reportedly went on hunger strike but ended it after they were threatened with being moved to a cell holding criminal prisoners where they could be at risk of violence from inmates. They were released on bail in August after being charged with supporting and recruiting on behalf of "terrorist" groups, including those fighting US forces in Iraq. They called for a reinvestigation of their cases on the grounds that they had been forced to make false confessions. In October, the Ministry of the Interior issued a statement denying allegations that those accused of links to the insurgency in Iraq had been tortured.

• In April, the convictions of four men arrested in November 2002 were quashed on appeal. Mohsen al-Fadli, Adel Bu Hemaid, Maqboul Fahad al-Maqboul and Mohammed al-Mutairi had been convicted of "joining a foreign nation's military and endangering the security of Kuwait" and sentenced to five years' imprisonment in February 2003. They had been freed on bail in December 2003 pending the appeal.

Women's rights

In March, a parliamentary committee rejected a government proposal to grant women the right to vote and stand as candidates in municipal elections. In May a bill amending the electoral law to grant women the right to vote and run for political office was approved by the Cabinet and sent to the National Assembly for ratification. A similar measure was narrowly defeated in 1999 owing to opposition by Islamist members of parliament. In a speech before parliament in October, the Amir, al-Shaikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah, urged that the bill be ratified. Islamist members of parliament later announced that they would support the right of women to vote, but were undecided on women's right to run for political office.

Following Kuwait's submission of its combined initial and second periodic report issued in January, the UNCommittee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women criticized women's lack of political rights in Kuwait. It said this seriously limited their ability to enjoy other rights protected under the Convention, and was therefore contrary to its object and purpose. The Committee also "expressed concern at the continuing existence of de jure discrimination against women in various laws", including the Nationality Act, the Personal Status Act, the Civil Code and the Private Sector Employment Act.

There were several reports of the abuse, including rape, of migrant domestic workers, who number around 400,000 in Kuwait.

Freedom of expression

Arrests and trials took place in violation of the right to freedom of expression.

• Yasser al-Habib, aged 21, who was arrested in November 2003, was sentenced in January to one year's imprisonment and fined US$3,340. He was reportedly charged with "insulting the Prophet Mohammed's companions, abusing a religious sect and distributing an audiotape without a licence", in connection with an audiotape recording of a closed lecture that he gave on Islamic historical issues. In February he was released under an annual pardon announced by the Amir of Kuwait on the occasion of the country's National Day, but his rearrest was ordered a few days later. The public prosecutor said the release had been an error. Yasser al-Habib went into hiding. An appeals court dismissed the original verdict and ordered a retrial, reportedly upgrading the charges. In May, Yasser al-Habib was sentenced in absentia to 10 years' imprisonment. According to unconfirmed information, charges against him included seeking to overthrow the state and belonging to an organization that seeks to overthrow the state.

AI visits

AI visited Kuwait in January to conduct research on detainees held in the context of the "war on terror" and in July to conduct research for the Gulf Stop Violence Against Women project (see Middle East/North Africa Regional Overview 2004).