Kuwait

A Kuwait City court sentenced journalist Mohammed Abdulqader al-Jassem on Thursday to six months in prison on charges of slandering Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. The charges were based on remarks Al-Jassem gave at a February human rights conference in which he said the prime minister was unfit to rule the country and...

A Kuwaiti court has fined a journalist and two newspapers for statements deemed offensive to the ruling family and the prime minister, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). On Sunday, a criminal court in Kuwait fined opposition writer and journalist Mohammed Abdulqader al-Jassem 3,000 Kuwaiti dinars (US$10,500) for publishing an article in November critical of Prime Minister...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) on Thursday urged the Kuwaiti prime minister and parliament not to back amendments to the publications law that it said would pose a threat to freedom of the press. Parliament is due to vote in the next few days, according to the website Alqabas.com, on amendments proposed by the information minister, Sheikh Ahmad Abdallah al-Sabah. “The adoption of these amendments...

After being held by police for 12 days at the headquarters of the criminal investigation department in Kuwait City, journalist Mohammed Al-Jassem appeared in court again Tuesday morning and was able to challenge the legality of his detention and the way the investigation has been conducted, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. At the end of a hearing of more than two hours, the court...

Kuwait’s prosecutor-general Tuesday ordered the police to continue holding journalist Mohammed Abdel Qader Al-Jassem at the headquarters of the criminal investigation department after he was take in for questioning the day before in connection with a libel suit by the prime minister and then refused to pay bail of 1,000 dinars (2,345 euros), Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. As Kuwait...

Kuwaiti information minister, Al-Sheikh Ahmad Abdallah al-Sabah, has suspended privately-owned Scope TV’s political satire programme Sawtak Wasal after only three of an initially-scheduled series of 15 programmes had been broadcast, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). The 20-minute programme, consisting of sketches that satirized Kuwaiti politicians, had been referred by the government...

The Kuwaiti government's issuing of a resolution to prevent official staff from writing in newspapers is a harsh blow to press freedom and freedom of expression, taking Kuwait back decades and violating several constitutional articles that ensure the freedoms of opinion and expression. Al Qabas newspaper revealed a governmental document, which has been under preparation since February 2008, that...

There has been an upsurge in cases being brought against journalists in Kuwait, despite the fact it was the first Gulf state to decriminalise press offences. "The 2006 press law reform profoundly transformed the emirate's media landscape. We urge the authorities to continue to strengthen the protection of the right to be informed and to inform the public," Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières...

Reporters Without Borders deplores A Kuwait City criminal court has withdrawn the licences of two weekly newspapers, Al-Abraj and Al-Shaab. The court in separate cases on March 8 fined Al-Abraj editor Mansur Ahmad Muhareb Al-Hayni and Al-Shaab editor Hamed Turki Abu Yabes 9,000 dinars (21,000 euros) each. Hayni was convicted of besmirching the prime minister’s reputation while Yabes was convicted...