Human Rights Watch censures Kuwait

Human Rights Watch has censured the Kuwaiti government for upholding a law under which people are imprisoned for insulting the king.

On Thursday, the New York-based rights organization said the move “dealt a blow to free speech.”

“The authorities should drop charges against those accused or convicted of crimes solely for exercising their right to express critical views on any subject, no matter how sensitive,” Human Rights Watch stated.

Criticizing Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad a-Jaber al-Sabah is illegal in Kuwait and is considered a state security charge.

Lawyers defending activists in the oil-rich Persian Gulf state had asked the constitutional court to put an end to the law that stipulates a five-year jail term for anyone who publicly “objects to the rights and authorities of the emir or faults him.”

“Kuwait’s highest court could have created a remedy for a slew of prosecutions that violate constitutional guarantees of free speech,” said Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch Middle East and North Africa division. “The court squandered that opportunity.”

Over the past year, several activists have been taken to court and sentenced to several years in jail under the Kuwaiti law.

Since the December 1, 2012 parliamentary elections, the Kuwaiti opposition has held almost daily protests to demand that the new parliament be dissolved and the changes made to the electoral law be reversed.

Activists say a decision to change the electoral law by Sheikh Sabah was aimed at electing a rubber-stamp parliament.

Kuwait was the first Arab state in the Persian Gulf to establish an elected parliament in 1962. However, the al-Sabah family remained in control of key posts, including the premiership and the ministries of defense, interior, and foreign affairs.