Constitutional Ignorance

Proofread by Dr. Glenn Hutchinson.

Kuwait was one of the very first countries in the Middle East, and the Arabian Gulf specifically, that adopted a constitution as its ruling/political system. Ever since 1962, people were progressing with the new way of democracy, making them learn more and more how to cope with the constitutional law.


To begin with, the lawmakers and politicians put together the constitution, which consists of 183 articles divided into five chapters. They stated clearly that it would need modifications to allow it to adopt further laws and freedom. But with every new change comes more difficulties, and this is exactly what happened.


Some members of the ruling family, along side with a large number of well known business-class families hated the fact that now they're being watched closely by the people, and by those who represent people in the parliament.


Nowadays, after holding its place unchanged since its establishment, more and more people who are in power are trying their best to abandon this constitution. They have jailed many of the anti government writers and politicians, all under the name of law and against the Freedom of speech that is backed up by the constitution. 

On Wednesday, December the 8th, the unexpected happened. Police and other special forces agents attacked one of the biggest anti-government speeches around the country, which was held at Jemaan Al-Harbash's house. 

The Attack and the violence used were never seen before, especially since the persons who were attacked were innocent people, parliament members and a very famous academician, Dr. Obaid Al-Wasmi. Dr. Obaid is a law teacher in Kuwait's university, a very well respected constitutional expert and a member of a respected family. He was dragged and kicked from inside the house of the MP where the campaign was held for no clear reasons except his anti-government speech and how he mentioned that the prime minister of Kuwait is trying hard to abandon and violate the constitution, and therefore drown the country.


This act has created chaos amongst the parliament members and the people in general. The constitution of Kuwait states clearly in its articles 6, 7, 29, 31, 34 and 44 that citizens have the right to attend or organize public speeches and speak out their minds freely and openly without the need of any pre-approval from anyone.


After this huge controversy and shock, the government is trying harder and harder to act as if nothing happened by controlling its media and the local agencies to mention nothing about this unlawful act and show no signs of it. This was followed by closing the only news agency, "Aljazeera" that aired footage and some analysis on what exactly happened.


A big movement was established and is continued to grow daily under the name of "Not the Constitution". This movement condemns this dictatorship style of acts and are working hard to force the government to quit. The question is left to you, the viewer, whether this act will ever be justified or not, especially when our ranking in the freedom of speech is plummeting downwards every month.

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Video of the attack on Dr. Obaid Al-Wasmi

 

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Kuwait's Constitution (Click Here)

Corruption? or is it just us being Arabs?

A few days ago, on the 30th of June 2010, the ruling of the misdemeanor court in Kuwait sentenced a young Kuwaiti citizen, Khaled Sanad Alfadala, who is the secretary general of the National Democratic Alliance, with three months of imprisonment and a fine of 150 KWD. The sentence they issued was a shock to the nation, being the first of its kind given to a citizen for speaking out his mind.


The story started months ago, when a group of Kuwaiti citizens came to the public and showed the frustration and the huge concerns of many towards the prime minister of Kuwait. The group, which was called "Leave, Kuwait deserves better" stood up in public and spoke their minds about the shocking reports showing huge amounts of money being spent by the prime minister's office, without labels or categories in which the payments were done, which sparked a huge controversy among both the political fields and the general population.

At that time, Khaled S. Alfadala took his own turn to speak. When he climbed on that stage and took the microphone, he couldn't help it but speak his mind, claiming that he thinks that these payments may have been related to money laundering, which might be true up until someone claims the opposite. The reports that were released mentioned amounts up to two and sometimes over four million KWD being spent over gifts and other means of "perfumes," which sparked a huge controversy and a lot of whispering between all the citizens wither he, Khaled, had the right to do so or not, "talking about a member of the ruling family."

Today, we're talking about the FIRST, yes the first Kuwaiti citizen to be jailed by the prime minister's defense team, claiming that Khaled cursed and disrespected the prime minister in public, while all he did is speak his mind out loud. A few days ago, the nation celebrated the release of a public figure and writer Mohammad Abdulqader Aljasem, who was jailed by the homeland security for what they said was a "disrespect of the ruler of Kuwait and giving the world a bad image of the country." But that celebration didn't last long.

Khaled S. Alfadala, is now in jail paying for a crime he never committed, paying for the price of speaking his mind in an Arabic nation, where corruption sometimes is a must. The youth and all the political parties made their claims that these charges, being the first of its kind with an imprisonment sentence, might be a start of a new era in Kuwait, the era of dictatorship and the collapse of democracy.

The Kuwaiti constitution states clearly that freedom of speech, research and thought is guaranteed to the citizens especially in its 36th article, along with the huge list of charges in the past concerning curses or bad use of words in public speeches or articles being no more than a fine of 5001 more or less KWD. This time it's different because it involves the prime minister, who is a member of the ruling family of Kuwait, which many think influenced the sentence.

"Article 36 [Freedom of Opinion and Expression]
Freedom of opinion and of scientific research is guaranteed. Every person has the right to express and propagate his opinion verbally, in writing, or otherwise, in accordance with the conditions and procedures specified by law." (Kuwait's Constitution).

When will he be released? And when can we speak our minds freely and without the fear of being jailed for doing so? Did the prime minister have an influence on the ruling judge? If so, can we ever trust the judgment system in Kuwait? Should we even question the judgment system and think its being corrupted or influenced?

All of the above questions stood up in my mind once I read the shocking news. And they will continue to stand up until it's all sorted out and the image is clarified.