Appeals Court Sentence Silences Liberal

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 001192

SIPDIS

STATE FOR INR/R/MR, NEA/ARPI, NEA/PPD, PA, INR/NESA
STATE FOR IIP/G/NEA-SA, INR/B, DRL
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE
LONDON FOR GOLDRICH, PARIS FOR O'FRIEL
USDOC FOR 4520/ANESA/ONE/FITZGERALD-WILKS
USDOC FOR ITA AND PTO/OLIA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OIIP KPAO KMDR KISL PREL PHUM PGOV KU
SUBJECT: Appeals Court Sentence Silences Liberal
Columnist, Stirs Censorship Fears

Reftel: Kuwait 538

(U) SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED -- PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. NOT
FOR INTERNET.


1. (U) SUMMARY: Sentenced to a one-year suspended jail term
and three years probation for "defaming Islam," a liberal
columnist said he will stop writing. The sentence,
overruling a January acquittal, has writers wondering about
the government's position on press freedom, and fearful of
stiffer penalties that may await writers under the
government's new press law proposal. END SUMMARY.


"Isn't There An End For This Retardation?"
--------------


2. (U) In a June 5, 2004 column in pro-government Arabic
daily Al-Seyassah entitled, "Isn't There An End For This
Retardation?" liberal Ahmed Al-Baghdadi excoriated the
Ministry of Education for increasing religion classes and
canceling music lessons in his 12-year-old son's private
school. Al-Baghdadi, a professor of political science at
Kuwait University who writes three columns a week for Al-
Seyassah and others for an Abu Dhabi newspaper, wrote that
he sent his son to private school, at considerable cost, to
avoid the religious instruction in government schools.
Still, he wrote, that could not save his son from "the
retardation of the Ministry of Education syllabuses (sic)."
[Note: religious education is mandatory in both government
and private schools. End note.]


3. (U) Al-Baghdadi wrote, "music is more important than
teaching the Holy Qur'an." He added that he would prefer
his son to learn English rather than Arabic, that he was
afraid that ignorant religious teachers would instruct his
son to disrespect women and non-Muslims, and that he did
not want his son to have a "possible future in terrorism."


4. (U) The office of the Public Prosecutor charged Al-
Baghdadi with defaming Islam in print -- a crime under the
current press and publications law -- soon after the
article appeared. The Criminal Court acquitted him but on
March 19, an Appeals Court ruling overturned the earlier
decision and sentenced Al-Baghdadi to the maximum penalty:
one year in prison followed by three years of probation.
Al-Baghdadi can suspend the jail term by paying a $6,500
fine, a payment he said he will make.

"This is Very Dangerous, Really"
--------------


5. (SBU) According to the Appeals Court ruling, Al-
Baghdadi's column defamed Islam by suggesting that there
was a link between the Qur'an and terrorism; that the
Qur'an encouraged the disrespect of women; and that
scholars of the Qur'an and Islam were unable to learn
modern knowledge and sciences. Al-Baghdadi said that
Kuwaiti Appeals Court judges with connections to
conservative religious movements overturned the earlier
ruling, made by more secular Egyptian judges on the lower
court.


6. (SBU) Al-Baghdadi is familiar with the limits of Kuwaiti
press freedom. In 1999, he served 13 days of a one-year
sentence for a 1996 column considered insulting towards the
Prophet Mohammed before being pardoned by the Amir. But in
a March 21 interview with emboffs, he was clearly chastened
by his sentence. He said that the three-year probation
would silence him: "If I want to be safe, I have to stop
writing," he said. And he bemoaned the ruling, which he
said was not protecting religion, but rather censoring
opinion. "For Kuwaitis, this is very dangerous, really," he
said. In press interviews and a recent column, Al-Baghdadi
mentioned the possibility of seeking asylum abroad because
of the sentence, but disavowed this notion when meeting
with emboffs, saying, "I think it's not right, if you don't
have the courage to face them."

One Columnist Down. Who's Next?
--------------


7. (SBU) Al-Baghdadi expressed concerns that his sentence
could be the first of many against Kuwait's vocal cadre of
liberal columnists. Government officials called for press
restraint and self-censorship on security issues in the
aftermath of four fatal January shoot-outs between security
forces and militants, all of which were widely reported in
the press. Media contacts suggested that the government
instructions, and meetings held by Prime Minister Shaykh
Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah with newspaper editors, might be
the start of a campaign by the country's leadership to
curtail press freedom (REFTEL). Al-Baghdadi and fellow
liberals such as Shamlan Al-Issa, Hassan Al-Issa, and Ali
Al-Baghli, have loudly criticized Islamists, and the
government's unwillingness to confront Islamists in such
areas as extremist preaching in mosques and their influence
on the curriculum. These writers have suggested that this
indirectly led to violence. Al-Baghdadi speculated that
cases might soon be filed against these writers.

And The New Press Law Looms.
--------------


8. (SBU) Private accusations from liberals that the
leadership has been moving in a more despotic direction are
typical, and must be taken with a grain of salt. In
rhetorical gamesmanship, both liberals and Islamists
portray themselves as put-upon, if not oppressed, and
engaged in an uphill fight for the rights of Kuwaitis. But
the concerns Al-Baghdadi expressed about the new draft
Press and Publications Law currently before the National
Assembly, which have been echoed by many media and
government contacts, cannot be dismissed. The law would
retain the right of any citizen to sue any writer for any
perceived slight, (this is the provision that allowed two
Islamists to bring a case against Al-Baghdadi for defaming
Islam). It would increase the maximum penalty for such
offenses from one year to ten, and would give the
government much more leeway in shutting down newspapers.
Al-Baghdadi expressed a commonly heard sentiment: "With the
new law, it is hopeless. Really hopeless."

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LEBARON