Freedom House — Freedom in the World 2026: Kuwait (Not Free, 30/100), with the 2025 edition that recorded the fall from Partly Free

STATUS CHANGE. "Kuwait's status declined from Partly Free to Not Free because the emir unilaterally dissolved the elected parliament and unconstitutionally suspended any new elections."

EVENTS OF 2024 RECORDED. The Amir dissolved the Assembly on 15 February 2024; elections on 4 April returned opposition candidates to 29 of 50 seats; on 10 May, days before the delayed opening session, he dissolved the Assembly for up to four years and suspended articles of the constitution, the third such dissolution after 1976 and 1986. Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al-Sabah was appointed Crown Prince in June 2024 without the parliamentary endorsement the constitution requires. Former MP Walid Al-Tabtabai was sentenced to four years (reduced to two on appeal) over a post on X; Mansoor Al-Muhareb was sentenced in absentia to two years for statements about the dissolution. In December 2024 3,701 people lost nationality after investigation by the Supreme Committee. About 68% of residents are non-citizens; more than 100,000 Bidoon are stateless. Former Minister of Social Affairs Mubarak Alarou was arrested in May 2024 on a seven-year corruption sentence. The authorities reported deporting 7,000–8,000 non-citizens a month. Forty-nine migrant workers died in the Mangaf fire of June 2024.

STRUCTURAL FINDINGS. Political parties are banned; the judiciary is not independent (the Amir has the final say on appointments; non-Kuwaiti judges hold contracts of up to three years); suspects may be held for four days without charge; the Cyber Crimes Law carries up to ten years for criticism of the Amir, judges, religious figures or foreign leaders; there is no access-to-information law; the Commission for Mass Communications and Information Technology can block content.

SCORES. 30/100 (political rights 7/40, civil liberties 23/60); last year 31.

KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN 2025. In April the Court of Appeal ruled in the cases of five former MPs and two former candidates convicted of offences including "insulting the emir" over their opposition to the 2024 dissolution; five received two to four years and two had sentences suspended. Mohammad Al-Barghash, an activist for the Bidoon, was detained in June after asking publicly on X for a meeting with the Interior Minister, and charged with state security offences; he had been acquitted of slander and false news charges in May. Women were promoted to senior prosecutorial posts for the first time. The citizenship withdrawals continued: "by late 2025 more than 50,000 people had been stripped of citizenship on the grounds that their status had been obtained fraudulently or otherwise illegally"; those affected had to surrender passports by 1 October, and many were reportedly left stateless because Kuwait requires naturalised citizens to give up their previous nationality. Tareq Al-Suwaidan was among prominent people who lost citizenship. Hundreds of migrants were arrested and deported under Decree No. 114 (issued November 2024, in force January 2025), which allows deportation when "necessary for the public interest, security, or morals"; from July, private-sector migrants needed employer permission to leave the country.

The edition is abridged "due to ongoing budget constraints" and refers readers to the 2024 and 2025 editions for background.

USE IN A REPORT: Freedom House's scores and narrative are an NGO's assessment. Cite the edition and year of events for each statement; the characterisation of the 2024 dissolution as "unconstitutional" is Freedom House's.

Two points. The 2025 edition describes Article 153 of the Penal Code (lenient sentences for killings of female relatives) as in force; it reflects events of 2024. Article 153 was repealed in 2025, as the Dossier's Penal Code entry, Amnesty International's report for 2025 and the UN Special Rapporteur's report record. Figures for the citizenship withdrawals differ by source and date — Freedom House's "more than 50,000 by late 2025" sits between the Special Rapporteur's 40,000–60,000 as of August 2025 and other estimates — so any figure should be cited with its source and date. The Dossier also holds Freedom House's 2017 and 2018 editions; comparing them shows the fall from 36/100 (Partly Free).