GOK SILENCES AL ARABIYA REPORTER AFTER ERRONEOUS

UNCLAS KUWAIT 000142

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KPAO PHUM KU GPGOV
SUBJECT: GOK SILENCES AL ARABIYA REPORTER AFTER ERRONEOUS
REPORT OF MILITANT SHOOT-OUT


1. The GOK released January 8 on 300KD bail an Al Arabiya
correspondent, detained January 5 for questioning after the
Dubai-based news station aired a report of a shoot-out
between militants and police. Adel Aidan, a Kuwaiti citizen,
was taken into custody along with a journalist from the
Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) and a security official on charges
of spreading news that harmed the national interest; all
three have been released. The Ministry of Interior (MOI)
denied the report within 30 minutes of Al Arabiya
broadcasting it, stating it was false and caused panic. A
lawyer for Aidan claims the correspondent used information
from sources he believed to be credible and did not intend to
harm Kuwait. Should the GOK not drop the case, the three
detainees will face trial.


2. Both Al Arabiya and the U.S.-based Committee to Protect
Journalists condemned the detentions. Local reporters staged
a brief sit-in at the MOI in protest of the detention. While
Kuwait has fewer restrictions on the press than other Gulf
nations, it maintains the right to close newspapers or
television stations. Qatar-based Al Jazeera, for example, has
been without a Kuwait office since 2002 when the GOK accused
it of anti-Kuwaiti reporting.


3. Comment: This incident comes amid a heightened state of
security after the recent announcement of an alleged plot
among Kuwaiti military elements to attack coalition troops
in-country. A ubiquitous display of Kuwaiti National Guard
forces has sprung up outside of embassies, Western
restaurants and shopping malls. Guardsmen and police are also
present in traffic circles and in roving caravans along Gulf
Road, the seaside thoroughfare. Alarming news reports carried
by a single outlet and credited to anonymous government or
"ministry" sources are not uncommon and typically appear and
disappear with little notice taken by the public or
government. The aggressive measures taken in this case likely
result from a combination of the heightened security
atmosphere and the vast number of Al Arabiya viewers
throughout the Arab world likely to have seen a report
questioning Kuwait's security position. End comment.
LEBARON