Amnesty International Report 2017/18 — Kuwait (events of 2017)

Background: on 6 April 2017 parliament reversed the 2015 amendment to the Juvenile Law, restoring 18 as the age of majority so that those arrested under 18 could be protected from life sentences and the death penalty. In July mandatory military service was reinstated, with penalties for failing to register within 60 days of turning 18. Kuwait led mediation in the Gulf crisis with Qatar.

Freedom of expression: UK-based writer Rania al-Saad was sentenced on appeal, in her absence, to three years for 'insulting Saudi Arabia' on Twitter. In the 'al-Fintas group' case, 13 men were tried over WhatsApp discussions of footage appearing to show government members advocating the Emir's removal; the Cassation Court upheld sentences of one to ten years for seven, some in their absence; 'the trial was marred by irregularities'. Blogger Waleed Hayes's ten-year sentence for 'defaming' the Emir and the judiciary was upheld despite his claim of torture. In February the Cassation Court reinstated two-year sentences on Abdulhakim al-Fadhli and 25 other Bidun men for peaceful demonstrations in Taima, suspended on bail on condition that they 'signed a pledge to no longer take part in demonstrations'; for al-Fadhli the pledge also annulled his expulsion order. In August the Public Prosecutor banned reporting on state security cases, although the Cassation Court had found in May that no law criminalised such publication.

Counter-terrorism: on 18 July the Cassation Court upheld one death sentence in absentia and commuted another to life in the case of 26 defendants charged with 'spying for Iran and Hizbullah'; thirteen acquittals were overturned with sentences of five to fifteen years; torture allegations 'were not investigated'; in August 14 men acquitted on appeal were re-arrested.

Nationality: 'In March the Emir ordered that the nationality of some government critics and their families be reinstated.' Ahmad Jabr al-Shamari withdrew his appeal against his 2014 deprivation, and the Cassation Court closed the case in April.

Bidun, workers, women, death penalty: more than 100,000 Bidun remained stateless and the 4,000-person naturalisation bill remained unenacted; CERD (September 2017) called for equal access to social services and education; migrant workers remained exposed to abuse under kafala; discrimination against women persisted in inheritance, marriage, custody, nationality and domestic-violence law. 'Executions were carried out on 25 January, the first since 2013.'

USE IN A REPORT: a dated account of how private electronic communications (WhatsApp) and social media led to prosecution in 2017, and of the terms — a pledge not to demonstrate — on which Bidun protesters' sentences were suspended.

For practitioners in political-opinion and speech-based claims: this entry shows the reach of prosecution in 2017 — to private WhatsApp discussion, to tweets by a person resident abroad (tried in absentia), and to peaceful Bidun protest, suspended only on a pledge not to demonstrate. Those facts bear on whether a claimant's online activity or protest history could realistically attract prosecution, including after time spent abroad. For nationality lawyers, the Emir's March 2017 reinstatements show that revocation was, at that time, reversible by discretion rather than through the courts. Corroborate with the Freedom House and State Department reports for 2017 on this Dossier.