World Report 2011 - Human Rights Watch

MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICAFreedom of Expression and MediaFreedom of expression markedly deteriorated in 2010. The government continuedcriminally prosecuting individuals based on nonviolent political speech, deniedacademics permission to enter the country for conferences and speeches, andcracked down on public gatherings. In April state security forces summarilydeported over 30 Egyptian legal residents of Kuwait after some of them gatheredto support Egyptian reform advocate Mohammed El Baradei.In May prominent writer and lawyer Mohammad al-Jassim was detained for over40 days and charged with “instigating to overthrow the regime, …slight to the personageof the emir [the ruler of Kuwait],… [and] instigating to dismantle the foundationsof Kuwaiti society” over his blog posts criticizing the prime minister. Ajudge released al-Jassim in June and adjourned the case until October.Sexual Orientation and Gender IdentityKuwait continues to criminalize consensual homosexual conduct, in contraventionof international best practices. Article 193 of Kuwait’s penal code punishesconsensual sexual intercourse between men over the age of 21, with up to sevenyears imprisonment (10 years, if under 21 years old). Article 198 of the penal codecriminalized “imitating the appearance of a member of the opposite sex,” imposingarbitrary restrictions upon individuals’ rights to privacy and free expression.The police continued to arrest and detain transgendered women on the basis ofthe law, many of whom have previously reported abuse while in detention.Migrant Worker RightsMore than two million foreign nationals reside in Kuwait, constituting an estimated80 percent of the country’s workforce. Many experience exploitative labor conditions,including private employers who illegally confiscate their passports or donot pay their wages. Migrant workers often pay exorbitant recruitment fees tolabor agents in their home countries and must then work off their debt in Kuwait.For the first time since 1954 the government passed a new private sector laborlaw in February, which provides workers with more protections on wages, working553