COURT RULES FEMALE MPS DO NOT HAVE TO WEAR HIJAB

UNCLAS KUWAIT 001035 SENSITIVE SIPDIS C O R R E C T E D COPY CAPTION NEA/ARP E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL KWMN PINR PHUM KU SUBJECT: COURT RULES FEMALE MPS DO NOT HAVE TO WEAR HIJAB REF: A. KUWAIT1014 ¶B. KUWAIT1015 1.(SBU) Per Ref A court case, on October 28 Kuwait's constitutional court ruled that recently elected female MPs Rola Dashti and Aseel Al-Awadhi did not violate the Shari'a requirement of Kuwait's electoral law by going uncovered and, as a consequence, will not lose their seats in the National Assembly. American University of Kuwait Arts & Science Dean Dr. Nizam Hamzeh told POLOFF on October 28 that he believes the ruling is significant with now two instances in which the Constitutional court has sided "against" conservative interpretations of Shari'a -- this ruling, and the October 20 judgment allowing Kuwaiti women to obtain passports without their husband's permission (Ref B). 2.(SBU) Comment: The impact of these two rulings on a Kuwait that appears to still be trending conservative both politically and socially remains to be seen. Hamzeh's optimism that the action by the constitutional court will usher in a new era of roll-backs of conservative interpretations of law may be misplaced. What we have here may be a more of a rear-guard action by a harried secular judiciary more than the harbinger of a legal frontal assault on the Islamists. That said, three of the four female parliamentarians -- two of them covered -- who attended a cancer-focused gala event with Ambassador October 29, were jubilant, asserting that the fundamental constitutional basis was there to protect women's (and minority) rights if properly utilized by knowledgeable practitioners. One of them, Dr. Aseel Al-Awadhi, earlier underscored to Ambassador that the ruling on a woman's right to obtain a passport absent her husband's permission came through steady, focused efforts on the part of the plaintiff and her attorney, not through any political gesture. ********************************************* ********* For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit: visit Kuwait's Classified Website at: http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Kuwa it ********************************************* ********* JONES