Amnesty Int. Report on Kuwait 2001
God of Scientology
http://web.amnesty.org/web/ar2001.nsf/webmepcountries/KUWAIT?OpenDocument
At least 42 political prisoners, including prisoners of conscience,
convicted in unfair trials since 1991, continued to be held. The fate
of more than 70 people who''disappeared'' in custody in 1991 remained
unknown. At least 21 people were sentenced to death. One man was
executed in February. The campaign to secure voting rights for women
suffered a setback.
Background
In July the UN Human Rights Committee examined the first report
submitted by Kuwait since its accession in 1996 to the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The Committee
expressed its concerns about a number of issues, including the number
of people still imprisoned following their conviction in 1991 by the
Martial Law Court in trials which did not meet minimum international
standards of fair trial set by the ICCPR. The concluding observations
of the Committee recommended that ''[t]he cases of persons still held
under such sentences should be reviewed by an independent and
impartial body, and compensation should be paid...where appropriate''.
No steps to implement this recommendation were known to have been
taken by the end of the year.
Women's voting rights
Women's rights activists continued their struggle to gain the right
to vote and stand for political office. After being turned away by
officials from registration centres, which opened in February to
update the all-male voters' lists, a number of women filed a complaint
against the Minister of the Interior, al-Shaikh Mohammad Khaled
al-Sabah. This challenge to the legitimacy of Kuwait's electoral law,
which denies women the right to vote, was heard by the Constitutional
Court in June and was rejected. The verdict in another complaint
against the electoral law was due to be delivered by the
Constitutional Court in January 2001. In a public statement, AI urged
the government to withdraw its reservations to the UN Women's
Convention and the ICCPR and to give women all human rights.
Bidun (stateless people)
In May the National Assembly passed legislation restricting the
number of those who might qualify to apply for citizenship to less
than one third of the total number of stateless Bidun remaining in
Kuwait. The first trial of a Bidun, on charges of forgery and
illegally staying in Kuwait, began in September. Fifty other people
were reported to be under investigation and 13 in detention on similar
charges. If found guilty, they could face up to seven years in prison
followed by deportation. In effect, thousands of stateless Arabs
living in Kuwait for decades could face compulsory deportation if they
failed to legalize their status by the end of 2000.
Freedom of expression
Provisions of the Penal Code, along with articles in the Printing and
Publications Law (Press Code) were used to limit freedom of
expression.
In March the Misdemeanours Appeal Court handed down fines to two
women writers - Laila al-'Othman, originally sentenced to two months'
imprisonment, and 'Alia Shu'aib - and their publisher, Yahya Rubi'yan.
The Appeal Court upheld charges of breaching public decency and using
profane and impious language made against Laila al-'Othman; 'Alia
Shu'aib was acquitted of all charges except those relating to Press
Code violations; charges relating to violations of the Press and Penal
Codes against Yahya Rubi'yan were upheld.
Death penalty
At least 21 people were sentenced to death following convictions for
murder and drug-related offences. Two others sentenced to death in
previous years had their sentences upheld by the Supreme Court. At the
end of the year at least 30 people were reported to be on death row,
the majority of them having been convicted of drug offences or murder.
A Kuwaiti national, Matar al-Mutairi, sentenced to death in 1996 for
murder, was hanged in February.
'Collaboration' trial
The death sentence against Ala' Hussein Ali, a former colonel in the
Kuwaiti army who led the so-called provisional government of Kuwait
during the Iraqi occupation in 1990, was upheld by an appeal court in
July. In December the Court of Cassation adjourned its proceedings
until January 2001 in response to an appeal by the defence.
AI country visits
AI delegates visited Kuwait in February. They met senior officials,
including the Minister of Justice, and attended a session of the
writers' trial. Following the visit, the authorities informed AI that
Sabiha Rasan Khallati had been granted an amnesty earlier in the year.
She had been detained since 1991 after an unfair trial
The Aggressor
http://www.stoptorture.org/urgent/index.php?ua=12
http://web.amnesty.org/web/ar2001.nsf/webamrcountries/UNITED+STATES+OF+AMERICA?OpenDocument
Would you care to comment.....please!
God of Scientology
Sure. :-)
Look at my other post from AI about "Israel and the Occupied Territories" under
soc.culture.israel and soc.culture.palestine
Glad to see you went to the AI link to look up the USA.
The USA has a lot of abuses to answer for.
Keep the playing field level.
But never use another country's violations as an excuse for your own!
But as for Kuwait, it is quite a shame that after 1991 is has not grown up into
a real democracy or constitutional monarchy as the Emir then had verbally
promised.
Can't trust the bugger can you ;-)
The Aggressor
If by 'the bugger' you are referring to the Emir of Kuwait, actually,
I do trust him...despite the failed promises.
> But as for Kuwait, it is quite a shame that after 1991 is has not grown up into a real democracy or constitutional monarchy as the Emir then had verbally
> promised.
It is unfair to judge a country's lag of progress on it's leader,
especially in a Country like Kuwait; the Kuwaiti democratic evolution
is unlike the traditional schools of thought. The Emir's view of
democracy in Kuwait succumbs from his desire to include the laws of
God, the Sharia, into everything, while at the same time his opponents
try to outmatch his efforts purely for political reasons and
ambitions!
There are those that believe that democracy is free speech and
demonstrations, others believe it's the opportunity to legally trash
and crush the competition, some view it as equal oppertunity-closely
comparable to socialism, some even see it as a carte blanche to use
blasphemy as a tool of journalistic art. Having said that, some would
'compare and contrast' themselves to others in Kuwait in order to
extract a sympathetic defense from the otherwise misinformed
well-wishers.
Prudence demands that a well-established legislative system penalizes
and regulates these misuses for the benefit of civility and respect of
the laws of the land. Maybe it's because i have faith in capital
punishment that i tend to defend the Kuwaiti legal system, or maybe
it's because i've lived here all my life and understand the psyche of
Kuwait's society, and can relate to the reasoning and justifications.
As for treason....I'm sure i don't need to explain myself here. We
didn't exactly hold the equivalent of the Nuremberg trials after the
liberation. Far form it, we actually saw the legal system 'reduce'
many sentences related to treason and atrocities!
> But never use another country's violations as an excuse for your own!
I totally agree, although right and wrong practices are usually
measured using a tried and tested model or a benchmark, not a
theory...in any case i hope you extend the same courtesy, coupled with
the right background information when reaching your conclusions of
Kuwait, at least in the spirit of fairness.
The Aggressor