Cairo on July 4, 2018

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) stated today that the Kuwaiti authorities should stop attacking civil society organizations, reverse the decision of the Minister of Social Affairs to dissolve the Board of Directors of Kuwait Freedom Society, and put an end to imprisoning citizens for expressing their views, especially on Twitter, the last of which was imprisoning Anwar Dashti.

Kuwaiti Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, Hind al-Subeeh, issued a decision last Thursday to dissolve the board of directors of Kuwait Freedom Society and appointment of a temporary board of directors for six months to run the association, for what was allegedly violating the system of the society, while many Kuwaiti rights activists thought that the reasons were related to a tweet by a member that was interpreted by some deputies as encroachment upon the Islamic Sharia law.
Although the tweet, regardless of its position, expresses the opinion of the one who posted it and does not represent the Freedom Association, still the arbitrary interpretation prompted many MP’s to demand the cancellation of the Assembly’s statement and threaten the Minister of Affairs of holding her accountable, which has led to the imprisoning solution that is likely to be a political one to avoid the MPs’ inquiries.

In addition to the unfair dissolution of the association and its narrowing of civil society, Anwar Dashti, a member of the Freedom Society, who was also active in the “#tweeting is not a crime” campaign, surrender himself to the security authorities to execute a six-month sentence against him for tweeting as part of a scary scenario in Kuwait, with the expansion of the issuance of judicial sentences to imprisonment in publishing cases, especially Twitter, to which Kuwait has become the most hostile both among Arab countries and globally, after Kuwait was once the first Arab state in the freedom of expression and freedom of the press.

ANHRI, stands in solidarity with the demands contained in the statement of the civil powers in Kuwait, in particular the review of Law No. 24 of 1962 on associations of public benefit to open the way for the participation of civil society institutions in building a state ruled by law, and also wishes to amend the legal articles that allow imprisonment in publishing cases, and the emphasis on supporting freedom of expression, the value that is about to be absent in Kuwait.
ANHRI also calls on the Kuwaiti government to rescind the decision to dissolve the board of directors of the Freedom Society and to stop the practices that are prejudicial to the role of civil society, as well as to stop restricting freedom in the name of law and the systematic violations of the principles of freedom of opinion and expression guaranteed by the Kuwaiti Constitution.