Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09KUWAIT1131
2009-12-02 13:15:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Kuwait
Cable title:  

KUWAITI JOURNALIST ARRESTED FOR SLANDERING RULING

Tags:  PGOV PHUM KMPI KU 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO5283
PP RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHDIR
DE RUEHKU #1131/01 3361315
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 021315Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY KUWAIT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4249
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 001131 

SIPDIS

NEA/ARP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/13/2019
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KMPI KU
SUBJECT: KUWAITI JOURNALIST ARRESTED FOR SLANDERING RULING
FAMILY PRIME MINISTER

Classified By: PolCouns Pete O'Donohue for reasons 1.4 b and d
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 001131

SIPDIS

NEA/ARP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/13/2019
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KMPI KU
SUBJECT: KUWAITI JOURNALIST ARRESTED FOR SLANDERING RULING
FAMILY PRIME MINISTER

Classified By: PolCouns Pete O'Donohue for reasons 1.4 b and d

1.(C) Summary and Comment. Journalist Mohammad Abdulqadr
Al-Jasim -- arrested November 22 on charges that he slandered
prominent ruling family member and Prime Minister Shaykh
Nasser Al Sabah -- remains under detention, having refused to
pay a high bail. On December 2, the Attorney General
scheduled Jasim to be tried at the Al-Rigaie Misdemeanors
Court on December 3. The arrest and continued detention has
galvanized Kuwaiti journalists and human rights activists,
who have grown accustomed to a degree of press and speech
freedom unusual in the Middle East. That Jasim -- a
vociferous and long-standing critic of the PM and the
government in general -- is charged for slandering the
reputation of the ruling family (a crime here) comes as
little surprise. What has made this case more significant,
however, is that his alleged remarks criticizing the PM were
made not in the press but at a diwaniyya (the bedrock of
Kuwaiti civil society and a venue generally considered to be
relatively sacrosanct). Equally chilling for free speech
advocates here is the fact that his bail has been set at KD
1000 (3500 USD),ten times the normal KD 100 level, an
arbitrary move that leads some here to worry that the GOK
could in the future raise bail levels to the point that jail
time is too costly to avoid. Such a change would make these
"nuisance suits" -- which are often filed against government
critics on grounds of damaging the reputation of the ruling
family -- much more stifling for dissent. A number of
parliamentarians publicly demonstrated in support of Jasim
December 1, no doubt motivated in part by their perception
that the Jasim case could represent an implicit threat to
their own immunity and right to criticize the government.
Jasim's treatment is widely believed to have been
orchestrated by the PM, suggesting this incident may become
yet another source of friction between the Prime Minister and
parliament, where the PM faces potential parliamentary
questioning as early as December 8 over checks he wrote to
MPs. End summary and Comment.

2.(U) After he criticized the Prime Minister at the private

diwaniya of Hamad Al-Ulayyan in front of some twenty
attendees on October 18, journalist and lawyer Mohammad
Abdulqadr Al-Jasim was detained on November 22 and accused of
having slandered the Prime Minister, a member of the ruling
family and second in line to succeed the Amir. Jasim refused
to pay a KD 1000 (3500 USD) bail and on December 1, still
detained at the Ministry of Interior's Investigations
Department jail, asked his lawyer to file charges against the
Attorney General for violating his constitutional right to
free speech. On December 2, the Attorney General scheduled
Jasim to be tried at the Al-Rigaie Misdemeanors Court on
December 3. Under Article 209 of the criminal law, Jasim
faces a maximum sentence of two years of jail time.

3.(C) Jasim was editor-in-chief of Kuwait's conservative
daily newspaper Al-Watan until he was pressured to leave the
position in 2005 by the GOK due to his frequent criticisms of
the government, according to local press reports and Embassy
sources. He was replaced by Shaykh Ali Al-Khalifa Al Sabah, a
member of the ruling family and a former oil minister.
According to local blog "Reqaba" ("Watching"),Jasim's
"slanderous" October 18 diwaniya statement was the following:

"My house is not made out of glass and I hereby warn (Prime
Minister) Shaykh Nasser and those with him to grow beyond
political vendetta, otherwise the results will be bad for
him. I am aware of what I am saying. I have a message for
Shaykh Nasser: 'Shaykh Nasser, I hope your men at State
Security give you this message... You accuse me of defaming
your personal life, but I was only exercising my right to
criticize. You are the one responsible for fraud in
naturalization (i.e. granting Kuwaiti citizenship to
stateless Bidoon residents as a political favor) and you can
be sure that the Thamer committee (in charge of investigating
recent issuances of citizenship to Bidoon) will find you
responsible.' "

4.(C) Jasim's attorney, Abd Al-Karim Haidar, told Embassy on
December 1 that the allegedly slanderous remarks made by
Jasim on October 18 are "just an excuse" and that the Prime
Minister is orchestrating Jasim's arrest as a means of
silencing the journalist's regular attacks on the government.
Haidar further claimed that the detention was objectionable
both morally ("the whole case is a political one and it was
submitted with malice") and legally ("the detention is
illegal because the Attorney General detained him in a manner
which violated procedure").

5.(C) Chairman of the Al-Rai media group Jasim Budai told

KUWAIT 00001131 002 OF 002


Embassy on November 23 that he also believes the Prime
Minister pressured the Ministry of Interior to arrest Jasim,
deal with him firmly, and set a high bail. Budai alleged that
this is why Jasim's bail was set at 1000 dinar, when the bail
for such cases is typically closer to KD 100 (350 USD).


6. (C) Jasim's detention has garnered attention and a great
deal of sympathy from Kuwait's print and online media alike.
The majority of columnists and bloggers expressed their
solidarity with Jasim, in part out of concern of the
precedent his continued detention could set. As one blogger
wrote: "If Al-Jasim pays one thousand (Kuwaiti dinars for
bail),tomorrow another columnist might have to pay 2,000 or
700,000 to bail himself out." On December 1, several
attorneys and four MPs protested in front of the Palace of
Justice, including MP Daifallah Buramya and MP Khalid
Al-Tahous, who were briefly detained in the run-up to the May
2009 parliamentary election for criticizing Defense Minister
Jaber Al Sabah and the law against tribal primaries,
respectively.

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For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit:
visit Kuwait's Classified Website at:

http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Kuwa it
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WILLIAMS