(C) GOK PUSH TO AMEND PRESS LAW: CAUSE FOR CONCERN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 002293

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/FO, NEA/PPD, NEA/ARP, INR/NESA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/28/2013
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR KU
SUBJECT: (C) GOK PUSH TO AMEND PRESS LAW: CAUSE FOR CONCERN


Classified By: (U) AMBASSADOR RICHARD H. JONES; REASON: 1.6X6


1. (C) SUMMARY: The GOK is making a strong push to gain
passage of a new press law before the National Assembly
session ends June 10. The bill contains a number of
provisions that would restrict current press freedoms.
Ruling-family politics appear to be a factor in this latest
push to amend the press law -- one of several since
Liberation. In what may be a sign that the GOK is willing to
play hardball, on May 19 it froze the assets of Shaykh Ali
al-Khalifa al-Sabah, principal owner of the newspaper whose
publisher most vociferously opposes the draft law, ostensibly
because it just now decided there are serious allegations
against Shaykh Ali that need to be investigated in relation
to a scandal that broke ten years ago over events dating back
to 1984. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) Local media have carried a number of articles in
recent weeks regarding the GOK's draft Press and Publications
Law. In a meeting with PAO, PAS FSN and PolChief May 20,
Mohammed al-Jassem (protect throughout),publisher and
editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper Al-Watan, said that
he, as a trained lawyer, has taken the lead in critiquing the
bill, drawing up a memorandum to the Minister of Information
that was signed by all the editors-in-chief of Kuwaiti
dailies in January 2002. Key elements:

- The Prosecutor General would have the power to suspend
publication of a newspaper without filing criminal charges,
if he determined that it published anything against Kuwait's
interest or worked for another country. (Al-Jassem commented
that these criteria are so vague they could encompass
anything the Government wanted them to. He said the current
law requires a decision by the entire Council of Ministers in
order to close down a newspaper.)

- The Prosecutor General could veto any advertisements, which
would put the financial health of newspapers at his mercy.

- The Minister of Information would have the power to close
down printing presses.

- Publication of any article would be subject to prior
censorship.

- Publication of the proceedings of closed sessions of
parliament or the Cabinet would be prohibited. (Al-Jassem
said this provision is in response to court rulings affirming
the right and responsibility of the press to report on closed
sessions.)

- The ban on offending Islam, God or the Prophet Mohammed
would be reinforced with stiffer fines and expanded to
encompass offenses to "the foundations of doctrine" (a
worrisomely vague term, in Al-Jassem's estimation, who noted
that the editors-in-chief's joint memorandum called for
eliminating "hisba," the right of any Muslim to file criminal
charges against anyone who defames Islam).

- Offending a judicial person would be banned.

- The editor-in-chief as well as the author of an offending
article would both be liable, even if the editor-in-chief was
out of the country at the time the article was published.
(Al-Jassem said this provision is based on the principle of
"presumed responsibility" which has been found
unconstitutional in Egypt.)

- The bill recommends that no new licenses be issued for
newspapers. (Al-Jassem said his newspaper supports the
principle of competition, therefore it opposes this
provision.)

- A recent addition to the draft would prohibit press
"campaigns," which could mean as few as two or three articles
on a given subject. (Al-Jassem gave an example: one article
criticizing Syria would be acceptable, but two would be a
campaign. He said this provision is a reaction to what the
GOK perceives as US media campaigns against Saudi Arabia.)

- On the positive side, the bill would eliminate jail
sentences for press offenses (except for affronts to
religion),but it would increase fines to as much as 10,000
Kuwaiti Dinars (approx. USD 33,000).


3. (C) Al-Jassem summarized the saga of the Press and
Publications bill as follows: it is essentially the same
text that every Information Minister since Liberation has
tried to push through the National Assembly. The current
Information Minister, the young Shaykh Ahmed al-Fahd al-Ahmed
al-Sabah, whose main interest was sports until he was
handpicked by his uncle First Deputy Prime Minister and
Foreign Minister Shaykh Sabah al-Ahmed, is now trying to
prove his worth to Shaykh Sabah, "an enemy of the press," in
hopes of gaining a more prestigious portfolio in the Cabinet
reshuffle that will follow the July 5 National Assembly
general election. Faced with the united opposition of the
editors, Shaykh Ahmed went directly to the Kuwait Journalists
Association to obtain support, and misled the National
Assembly's Committee on Education, Culture and Guidance into
believing the bill enjoyed broad acceptance. When disabused
by the editors, the Committee agreed to freeze consideration
of the bill until after the general election. Now, to
everyone's surprise, the GOK is making a fresh push to gain
passage, even though there are only four more days of
scheduled sessions on the National Assembly's calendar before
it adjourns for the elections. Al-Watan is putting editorial
pressure on key MPs to try to prevent the bill from passing.
Al-Jassem thought he would succeed in blocking the GOK,
because the MPs know his newspaper could "destroy" them if
they abet the regime's attempt to muzzle the press.


4. (C) In response to Emboffs' questioning, Al-Jassem gave
details of GOK action taken the previous day against the
owner of Al-Watan, Shaykh Ali al-Khalifa al-Sabah, who was
Minister of Oil in 1990. He said Shaykh Ali was banned from
traveling outside the country (although he is already in the
US to attend his son's graduation),his personal assets were
frozen (not including Al-Watan, which he owns indirectly in
conjunction with 35 partners),and two men were appointed to
manage his assets. All these actions were taken because the
GOK just now decided that serious allegations exist against
Shaykh Ali that require investigation, in connection with the
so-called "oil tankers case" which erupted in 1993 regarding
events dating back to 1984. Al-Jassem was
uncharacteristically reluctant to accuse the GOK of trying to
get at him through Shaykh Ali, but he allowed that the timing
was remarkably coincidental after all these years. He
further claimed that a ten-year statute of limitations
applies. (Comment: To be fair to the GOK this case was
given new impetus lately with the extradition of a key figure
in the investigation from the U.S.)


5. (C) Throughout the conversation with Emboffs, Al-Jassem
portrayed himself as the only person in Kuwait who dares
speak scathingly of Shaykh Sabah to his face. He claimed to
have told the 74-year-old de facto ruler that he was "too
old" to be governing the country. He also claimed to have
told Shaykh Ahmed al-Fahd that he had a great future as one
of the few younger-generation members of the ruling family
who could revitalize Kuwait, but that he was throwing away
his future by tying himself to Shaykh Sabah, whose enmity for
the media and for democracy would destroy the country.
Almost as an aside, Al-Jassem remarked that Al-Watan was the
only newspaper that supported last summer's parliamentary
"grilling" of then-Finance Minister Yusuf al-Ibrahim.
(COMMENT: If successful, the grilling could have forced
al-Ibrahim out of office, or even brought down the entire
Cabinet. In the event, al-Ibrahim survived the vote of
no-confidence, though he has since resigned. END COMMENT.)


6. (C) COMMENT: There is obviously a great deal of personal
enmity in Al-Jassem's account, but the specific elements he
cited as points of concern regarding the draft Press and
Publications Law track with our own understanding. He also
shared copies of matrices showing differences between the
current law and the bill, and between the bill and the
parliamentary committee's position. (We have no reason to
doubt the veracity of this analysis.) Without getting
embroiled in local politics, we will endeavor to find ways to
remind the GOK of the centrality of press freedom in our
values and in US foreign policy. If nothing else this will
put the lie to any malicious allegations of U.S. acceptance
of or complicity in this misbegotten GOK initiative.
JONES