Kuwait

Kuwait’s new telecommunications law gives the government sweeping powers to block content, deny access to the Internet, and revoke licenses without giving reasons. The government should amend the law to limit the restrictions on telecommunication providers and users to no more than what international human rights law permits. Communication law 37/2014, adopted on May 18, 2014, establishes a...

Press freedom groups have condemned the government’s closure of the Kuwait City bureau of the Doha-based satellite TV station Al-Jazeera for covering police use of force to disperse an unauthorised demonstration at Soulaibikhat, 10 km from the city centre, on December 8. “This closure violates the legal procedures and regulations in force in Kuwait,” Paris-based press Reporters sans Frontières...

Kuwaiti authorities shut down the local offices of the Al-Jazeera TV network and withdrew its accreditation Monday after it covered a violent police crackdown on a meeting of Opposition lawmakers in the oil-rich Gulf country, the Associated Press has reported. Al-Jazeera denied the charge of meddling in Kuwaiti affairs, saying it was just doing its job. "Al-Jazeera, which has adhered in its...

A one-year prison sentence was imposed on Mohammed Abdulqader al-Jassem, a Kuwaiti writer and journalist, on Monday. A criminal court convicted al-Jassem of criminal defamation in connection with an article he published on his personal news blog, Al-Mizan. The case is only one of 18 that the government has filed against the journalist in the past year, the New York-based Committee to Protect...

Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned an armed attack on Kuwait City-based Scope TV, which was overrun by about 150 people brandishing knives and pistols on October 17. Some 10 people were injured in the course of the violence, the privately-owned satellite TV station’s executive director told the news agency Reuters. Employees said the assailants were...

Kuwaiti Prime Minister Nasser AlAhmad AlSabah has filed a complaint against Ibrahim Eissa, editor of Egyptian daily Al-Dustour and Kuwaiti journalist Mohammed Alweshaihi accusing them of insult and libel. Lately, Al-Dustour had reported on the trials of Kuwaiti journalist Mohamed AlJassim, and slammed the Kuwaiti PM for being behind them, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) has...

A Kuwait City appeal court on Monday overturned Kuwaiti writer and journalist Mohamed Abdel Qader Al-Jassem’s conviction on a charge of defaming Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Sabah, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). Monday's ruling overturned Al-Jassem’s conviction on April 1 for criticising government policy and calling for the prime minister’s resignation. Convicted in other case...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has urged Kuwaiti authorities to drop all charges against journalist Mohammed Abdulqader al-Jassem, who was released on bail Monday. CPJ is also alarmed by local news reports that the Ministry of Information will prosecute Al-Jazeera’s office in Kuwait for violating a ban on local coverage of al-Jassem’s case after the station broadcast a protest...

Kuwaiti authorities have detained freelance opposition journalist Mohammed Abdulqader al-Jassem since Sunday on charges of “instigating to overthrow the regime,” “slight to the personage of the emir” and “instigating to dismantle the foundations of Kuwaiti society,” the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Al-Jassem is facing multiple charges in five other complaints and was...

The prosecutor-general in Kuwait has forbidden the Kuwaiti media to publish any more reports about the dismantling of an Iranian spy network, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). The disbanding of the network, allegedly consisting of six Kuwaitis, two stateless Arabs employed by the army and various Arab citizens, was revealed by a media report on May 1. The spy ring dismantled by the...