Thou shalt observe the law, no matter how crazy it is

In Kuwait during Ramadan it is a criminal offence to eat or drink in public during the daylight hours. Every year scapegoats are found as per today's Arab Times...

Man violates law: Ahmadi patrol officers, in pursuing a car with the aim of
issuing its driver with a traffic violation ticket, were surprised to find
sweetmeats and cold drinks beside the car’s Asian driver. The man also appeared
to have also been smoking while driving and was, therefore, referred to Abu
Khalifa Police Station where he was charged with violating the law which bans
eating, drinking or smoking in public places during the daytime hours of
Ramadan, say security sources. In a continuing scenario of persons violating the
mentioned law, two Kuwaiti youth, who were caught eating in a public place at
10.00 am by personnel from the Capital patrols were referred to the Capital
police station, add the sources.

... just as well that I have an office door I can close.

Censorship

Here’s an example to show what a fine upright country we’re living in.

The kids’ reading books at school all have to be submitted to the Ministry of Education before they are approved for use in school. Here’s an example of what a Year 4 reading book looks like:

"That’s the miller” said Marge. See he’s holding a jar of *** in his hand. We call it **** nowadays. The miller made *** with the malt from his mill. You can see that he loved his ***. But he did not love his wife."

The **** words were blacked out with marker pen.

Kuwait - fighting corruption, terrorism and human rights violations

I've just discovered a new blog which expresses some of the same sentiments on this blog. As Ben says:

Kuwait, a culture of face, is more concerned about its reputation than anything
else. As a result, issues such as corruption, terrorism and human rights
violations are often denied or simply ignored. In most cases, the victims are
punished. Despite the fact most people are too afraid to denounce them, some
Kuwaiti and expat writers are exposing the violations committed against helpless
victims... some times at the risk of being accused of destroying Kuwait’s
reputation or even being arrested.

There's a particularly good article about the random killing of Canadian Luc Ethier and the wounding of his Filipina wife Mary Jean Bitos back in 2001, and the cover-up by the Kuwaiti authorities since. Keep up the good work Ben - the more publicity, the better.

Morals police on the job

In today's Arab Times we get the following article with accompanying photo...

13 women held for dressing indecently

Hawally securitymen arrested 13 Asian women, all below 25-years of age, at
a billiards hall in Salmiya for being 'indecently dressed', say sources.
Investigations show most of the women already have cases registered against them
by their sponsors. Some of these individuals were found to be on expired visas.
Some adolescent boys were also arrested and during interrogation confessed to
frequenting the billiards hall late at night to "fool around with the girls in
exchange for money", confirm sources. All the arrested women will be referred to
the hospital where they will undergo medical examinations to confirm whether or
not they are free from infectious diseases explained the source in
conclusion.

How indecent! ...their arms are showing, no head coverings, and one of them looks distinctly masculine ...probably the undercover officer posing with his bevy of beauties.

And while on the subject of Dubai...

Apparantly women in Dubai are now able to divorce their husbands in Sharia courts. But, did you know...

... One new rule mandates that the mentally ill, lepers and the impotent cannot get married. (my emphasis)

So how do they test whether someone is impotent or not before they can be married?! Do Sharia court judges do a test on budding fiances? Do they take them to one of the hotels renowned for women of the night? And why on earth have the stupid rule in the first place?

I bet there's a few Emirati wives who wish their husbands were impotent!

Does the Road to the Future End at Dubai?

I came across an interesting article on Dubai when browsing blogs. Here are a few gems...

Although often compared to Las Vegas, Orlando, Hong Kong or Singapore, the sheikhdom is more like their collective summation: a pastiche of the big, the bad, and the ugly. It is not just a hybrid but a chimera: the offspring of the lascivious coupling of the cyclopean fantasies of Barnum, Eiffel, Disney, Spielberg, Jerde, Wynn, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill...

... Under his leadership (Maktoum's), the coastal desert has become a huge circuit board into which the elite of transnational engineering firms and retail developers are invited to plug in high-tech clusters, entertainment zones, artificial islands, "cities within cities" -- whatever is the latest fad in urban capitalism. The same phantasmagoric but generic Lego blocks, of course, can be found in dozens of aspiring cities these days, but Sheik Mo has a distinctive and inviolable criterion: Everything must be "world class," by which he means number one in The Guinness Book of Records. Thus Dubai is building the world's largest theme park, the biggest mall, the highest building, and the first sunken hotel among other firsts.

Sheikh Mo's architectural megalomania, although reminiscent of Albert Speer and his patron, is not irrational. Having "learned from Las Vegas," he understands that if Dubai wants to become the luxury-consumer paradise of the Middle East and South Asia (its officially defined "home market" of 1.6 billion), it must ceaselessly strive for excess.

From this standpoint, the city's monstrous caricature of futurism is simply shrewd marketing. Its owners love it when designers and urbanists anoint it as the cutting edge. Architect George Katodrytis wrote: "Dubai may be considered the emerging prototype for the 21st century: prosthetic and nomadic oases presented as isolated cities that extend out over the land and sea."

A good read, but unfortunately the author doesn't let facts get in the way of a good story. He goes a bit over the top when he talks about 'broad tolerance of booze, recreational drugs, halter tops, and other foreign vices formally proscribed by Islamic law' or 'unrestricted freehold ownership to foreigners' - as far as I'm aware you have to be a non-Muslim to then be able to obtain a licence to buy booze, for example, and there is no unrestricted freehold ownership for foreigners... it is only leasehold and legal property rights are still very murky.

Justice for women in Islam?

How many men in Kuwait have been convicted for raping a housemaid? And yet, there are hundreds, thousands even, of maids over the years that have been raped or abused, and yet are punished by the system while nothing happens to the perpetrator. How many sponsors are stopped from sponsoring another housemaid once it is known that they have raped, abused, and/or not paid their previous housemaid?

Whilst it's easy to be critical of the justice system, or lack of it, in Kuwait and other Gulf countries, it's not only here that there is a problem. I came across the following article in The Times written by the renowned Salman Rushdie which highlights the strict Islamic code that condemns women in Pakistan and India, and have 'cut and paste' it in full...

Where is the honour in this vile code that condemns women to die in shame?

Salman Rushdie
IN HONOUR-AND-SHAME cultures such as those
of India and Pakistan, male honour resides in the sexual probity of women, and
the “shaming” of women dishonours all men. So it is that five men of Pakistan’s
powerful Mastoi tribe were disgracefully acquitted of raping a villager named
Mukhtar Mai three years ago. Theirs was an “honour rape”, intended to punish a
relative of Ms Mukhtar for having been seen with a Mastoi woman. The acquittals
have now been suspended by the Pakistan Supreme Court, and there is finally a
chance that this courageous woman may gain some measure of redress for her
violation. Pakistan, however, has little to be proud of. The Human Rights
Commission of Pakistan says that there were 320 reported rapes in the first nine
months of last year, and 350reported gang rapes in the same period. The number
of unreported rapes is believed to be much larger. The victim pressed charges in
only one third of the reported cases, and a mere39 arrests were made. The use of
rape in tribal disputes has become, one might say, normal. And the belief that a
raped woman’s best recourse is to kill herself remains widespread and deeply
ingrained. For every Mukhtar Mai there are dozens of such suicides. Nor is
courage any guarantee of getting justice, as the case of Shazia Khalid shows. Dr
Khalid was raped last year in the province of Baluchistan by security personnel
at the hospital where she worked. A Pakistani tribunal failed to convict anyone
of the crime. Dr Khalid says that she was subsequently “threatened so many
times” that she was forced to flee Pakistan. “I was hounded out,” she says,
expressing dissatisfaction that the Government neither brought her attackers to
justice nor protected her from the threats that followed. That is the same
Government, led by President Musharraf, that confiscated Mukhtar Mai’s passport
because it feared that she would go abroad and say things that would bring
Pakistan into disrepute; and it is the same Government that has allied itself
with the West in the war on terrorism, but seems quite prepared to allow a war
of sexual terror to be waged against its female citizens. Now comes even worse
news. Whatever Pakistan can do, India, it seems, can trump. The so-called Imrana
case, in which a Muslim woman from a village in northern India says that she was
raped by her father-in-law, has brought forth a ruling from the powerful
Islamist seminary Darul-Uloom ordering her to leave her husband because as a
result of the rape she has become haram (unclean) for him. “It does not matter,”
a cleric has stated, “if it was consensual or forced.” Darul-Uloom, in the
village of Deoband90 miles north of Delhi, is the birthplace of the
ultra-conservative Deobandi cult, in whose madrassas the Taleban were trained.
It teaches the most fundamentalist, narrow, puritan, rigid, oppressive version
of Islam that exists anywhere in the world today. In one fatwa it suggested that
Jews were responsible for the 9/11 attacks. Not only the Taleban but also the
assassins of The Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl were followers of
Deobandi teachings. Darul-Uloom’s rigid interpretations of Sharia law are
notorious, and immensely influential — so much so that the victim, Imrana, a
woman under unimaginable pressure, has said she will abide by the seminary’s
decision in spite of the widespread outcry in India against it. An innocent
woman, she will leave her husband because of his father’s crime. Why does a mere
seminary have the power to issue such judgments? The answer lies in the strange
anomaly that is the Muslim personal law system — a parallel legal system for
Indian Muslims, which leaves women such as Imrana at the mercy of the mullahs.
Such is the historical confusion on this vexed subject that anyone who suggests
that a democratic country should have a single, unified legal system is accused
of being anti- Muslim and in favour of the hard-line Hindu nationalists. In the
1980s a divorced woman named Shah Bano was granted “maintenance money” by the
Indian Supreme Court. But there is no alimony under Islamic law, so orthodox
Indian Islamists such as those at Darul-Uloom protested that this ruling
infringed the Muslim Personal Law, and they founded the All-India Muslim Law
Board to mount protests. The Government caved in, passing a Bill denying alimony
to divorced Muslim women. Ever since Shah Bano, Indian politicians have not
dared to challenge the power of Islamist clerical grandees. In the Imrana case,
the All-India Muslim Law Board has unsurprisingly backed the Darul-Uloom
decision, though many other Muslim and non-Muslim organisations and individuals
have denounced it. Shockingly, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mulayam
Singh Yadav, has also backed the Darul-Uloom fatwa. “The decision of the Muslim
religious leaders in the Imrana case must have been taken after a lot of
thought,” he told reporters in Lucknow. “The religious leaders are all very
learned and they understand the Muslim community and its sentiments.” This is a
craven statement. The “culture” of rape that exists in India and Pakistan arises
from profound social anomalies, its origins lying in the unchanging harshness of
a moral code based on the concepts of honour and shame. Thanks to that code’s
ruthlessness, raped women will go on hanging themselves in the woods and walking
into rivers to drown themselves. It will take generations to change that.
Meanwhile, the law must do what it can. In Pakistan, the Supreme Court has taken
one small but significant step in the matter of Mukhtar Mai; now it is for the
police and politicians to start pursuing rapists instead of hounding their
victims. As for India, at the risk of being called a communalist, I must agree
that any country that claims to be a modern, secular democracy must secularise
and unify its legal system, and take power over women’s lives away, once and for
all, from medievalist institutions such as Darul-Uloom.

The Last Information Minister

Some good news for Kuwait... I missed this one when I was out of the country. Anas Al-Rasheed is the new Kuwaiti Information Minister, and his stated goal in his new position is to CLOSE the Ministry of (Dis)Information!

And thou shalt not have thy hair cut in the same vicinity as the opposite sex

Reading the local newspapers always provides some light entertainment for foreigners. Further, it actually provides an insight into the cultural norms and values. I know I can't get a female hairdresser to cut my hair in this place, but I'd never even thought about, yet again realised, that it's illegal to have a hairdressing salon where both members of the same sex can get their hair cut. This little titbit from a recent Arab Times article...

... the Labour Department of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour
recently spotted serious violations said to have been committed by hairdressing
salons, reports Al-Qabas daily. In one incident inspectors from the department
raided a men's salon and discovered a special room had been prepared to receive
women customers. The salon has since been closed for violating the law.
Inspectors have also closed two women's salons for entertaining men...

Fijians the latest to be exploited

Looks like Fijians are the latest nationality to be exploited by a Kuwaiti employer. In yesterday's Arab Times...

Over 80 Fijian truckers complain about not-payment of salaries

KUWAIT CITY: Over 80 stranded Fijian truckers employed with a well-known
local logistics company and plying on the Kuwait-Iraq route complained Monday
about non-payment of their salaries for three months. Slamming the heavy-handed
attitude of the company, the truckers alleged that the company was flouting the
work contract signed in Fiji. ‘The company promised us that it would increase
our salaries after the completion of the probation period but its almost seven
months now and the company has neither hiked our wages nor it has provided us
work visas as promised,’ they lamented. According to the truckers, more than 400
Fijians were signed up as truckers by the local company and have been plying to
Iraq on regular basis. Taking umbrage at the low risk allowance to Iraq, a
trucker told the Arab Times that the company was providing the truckers a mere
KD 50 as risk allowance.‘

We have been plying in some of the most dangerous areas in Iraq including
Fallujah, Mosul and Baghdad but the company does not appreciate our efforts. All
of us feel very vulnerable while traveling to Iraq but we are helpless.’ ‘Some
of us tried to resolve the problem with the company in a congenial manner but to
no avail. The management threatens workers with deportation if they approach
them to seek their dues.’ Added a trucker ‘All of us have families back home.
Their day-to-day activities have been disrupted owing to non-payment of our
salaries. How are we supposed to feed our families,’ he demanded to know.

The truckers, who earn monthly salary of KD 175, said as per the new
contract the truckers were to be paid over KD 1,000 per month and that the
company has been turning a blind eye to their repeated requests. ‘All we are
demanding is good working conditions and our salary on time.’The truckers also
alleged that some of their colleagues were incapacitated and were in urgent need
of medical care. ‘Some 80 Fijians were recently either terminated or forced to
resign by the company. While some got their dues, others were repatriated
without paying their indemnity.’ Says a trucker ‘we are being treated like
slaves by the company. We are not provided rations by the company while
traveling to Iraq. All truckers have to take care of their own supplies. The
company does not provide us accommodation in Iraq and as a result we have to
sleep in our trucks. The truck is like our living room.’ (contd.)

Hmmm... a promised increase in salary from KD 175 to KD 1,000 per month. There are suckers born every minute.

Smelly in Salwa

I noticed in yesterdays Arab Times that an Egptian worker was killed when he was investigating drains in Salwa. Apparantly he was down a manhole and took off his mask to talk to a colleague and was overcome by toxic fumes!! This isn't the first time this has happened. I recall a similar incident happened a year ago, in Jahra I think.

How come there's toxic fumes in drains? What kind of toxic fumes are we dealing with here? What is the source? How is the low level of toxicity that we're all receiving on a daily basis affecting our bodies? Why isn't there more of an outcry about the environmental situation in Kuwait? Does anyone in this country care? Am I a voice in the wilderness?

Lesson #1: How to build a culture reliant on state handouts

What a farce whereby all Kuwaitis have their power and water bills reduced by KD 2,000. What kind of message does that give to honest bill payers? What about non-Kuwaitis?

That latest Governmental decision is on top of the KD 200 cash handout to all Kuwaitis and the salary increases to all public sector employees. Cost of these 3 decisions in total - a cool KD 460 million (over $1.5 billion), according to today’s Arab Times ‘Al-Shall report’. The rational for these payouts: appease the Kuwaiti politicians that would have otherwise blocked other ‘reforms’ like allowing women to vote…

Almost 2 years now in Kuwait and still no telephone line, because the Ministry haven’t built the infrastructure…

Why do the workers protest?

Today's Arab Times...

Workers protest as govt boots out 'cleaning' firm; Salaries unpaid for several months

KUWAIT CITY: In an extraordinary situation in Kuwait, about 3,000 cleaning
company workers of an unidentified company demonstrated and refused to hand over
the keys and other items in their possession to the workers of the new
contracting company when their company's contract with the Al-Razi, Maternity,
Chest and Allergy Diseases hospitals was terminated. A reliable source told the
Arab Times the company had violated one of the terms and conditions of the
contract by not paying the workers for several months and forcing them to
demonstrate and refuse to work thus disrupting the cleaning services at several
hospitals. When the workers refused to leave the premises at these hospitals, a
police force led by Director of the Security Directorate of the Capital
Governorate Brigadier Dr Mustafa Al-Zuaabi rushed to the place and threatened to
take action if the workers don't abide by the laws of the country. It has also
been reported after the arrest of one of the workers believed to be the man
leading the demonstration, the disheartened workers quietly left the place.
Those present during the negotiations were the acting Undersecretary of the
Ministry of Health Dr Ali Al-Seif, Undersecretary of the Legal Affairs
Department Dr Abdulkareem Jaafar, Director of the Legal Affairs Department
Mahmoud Abdulhadi, Director of the Chest Diseases Hospital Dr Fahd Al-Khalifah
and Director of the Maternity Hospital Dr. Mansour Sarkhouh. Most cleaning
workers get very low salaries - around KD 20 - but in the recent past the number
of protests by them have increased as they say even this meagre amount is not
paid to them for months.

That’s right boot out the workers who complain because they haven’t been paid – so not only are they not paid, they don’t have a job any more and they’re deported. And a new lot of workers are hired and the cycle starts again. The winner out of this merry-round - the Kuwait company owners. Lose one contract, that's OK... very profitable while it lasted, as very little in outgoings... and tomorrow I'll have another contract somewhere else.

And why exactly are the company names never released? Powerful families that can pay off the press me thinks. Wouldn’t want the reputation tarnished with bad publicity after all would we. Might not go down too well in the diwaniya.

How dare these slaves be treated with dignity!

Another good article in the Kuwait Times yesterday by Jamie Etheridge is reproduced in full. It's great that this stuff is able to be published in the media in Kuwait! It makes me optimistic that things can change for the better, but at the same time amazes me that such dinosaurs are elected as MPs! And, it's not often that the Ministry of Interior can be praised for using some common sense...

A setback for hope: MPs and labour laws

By Jamie Etheridge
KUWAIT: This week the Ministry of the Interior rejected a proposal by MPs
to place an additional restriction on expat labour in Kuwait. The proposal
recommended that any expatriate wishing to travel outside the country must first
obtain from his/her sponsor a 'certificate of non-objection.' Luckily the
Ministry refused the request on the grounds that it 1.) contravened the
government's policy of facilitating freedom of travel for non-criminals; 2.)
because there are plenty of systems in place already to catch criminals who try
to abscond; 3) most employers and sponsors already hold the passports of their
expat staff, even though this is against the law and 4.) it would be extremely
difficult to apply because foreigners who needed to leave on an emergency may
not be able to reach sponsors on vacation or unavailable.

We are thankful for the Ministry's detailed logic and decision to allow
foreign labour at least the dignity of freedom of travel. We can't help but
wonder which MPs thought placing such a harsh and burdensome restriction on more
than 1.2 million expatriates living and working in Kuwait was a good idea.
Imagine the nightmare of trying to get a 'certificate of non-objection' from a
sponsor who has physically abused you or failed to pay you or maybe just traded
you off to another sponsor. Imagine even trying to get a 'non-objection
certificate' from a great and generous sponsor who travels - like many Kuwaitis
- out of the country on a regular basis. What were these MPs thinking? What
could possibly prompt them to want to leash like dogs 1.2 million people to
their sponsors when the US State Department is openly and publicly ridiculing
Kuwait for its failure to protect to victims of 'human trafficking' and failure
to prosecute human traffickers.

Already the International Labour Organisation has recommended that Kuwait
abandon the trouble-laden sponsorship system and instead allow only the state to
act as an official sponsor for all imported labour. Many expatriates and labour
activists see this as the most reasonable solution, reducing the possibility for
abuses by sponsors and reducing the financial burden and risks sponsors take
when they hire and import expat labour.

The debate about human trafficking and troubled labour laws, however,
doesn't seem to be penetrating the national conscious - or rather, the National
Assembly's conscious. MPs who still think of expat labour as just a step above
slaves clearly aren't ready to enter a discussion about how to protect Asian
maids from their employers or how to stop child camel jockey trafficking in the
region.

Is the gap between Arabic and English discourse in Kuwait so wide that
Members of Parliament seriously have heard nothing about how expat labourers
here are fed up with being abused and exploited and how Kuwait is being
spotlighted for that exploitation? Or maybe they had just been working so hard
on the proposal to prevent expats from leaving the country without their
sponsors' permission that they haven't had time to read a newspaper.

Modern day slavery in Kuwait

Last week's Kuwait Times had the following interesting article...

US State Department talks about modern day slavery in Kuwait

By Jamie Etheridge

KUWAIT: The US Embassy in Kuwait arranged yesterday a videoconference
discussion with Ambassador James Miller, Senior Advisor to the Secretary of
State and Director, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.
Ambassador Miller spoke in-depth about trafficking in persons in Kuwait and the
US State Department's position on enforcement and protection for trafficking
victims. "Trafficking in persons "is a major human rights issue in the 21st
century" Miller argues, labelling it "modern day slavery."
In early June, the United States lowered the ranking for Kuwait - along
with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - to the third tier of
countries failing to protect victims of trafficking and prosecute traffickers.
Yesterday, Kuwait's Speaker of the House said in an interview with BBC that the
US reports about human rights on Kuwait should not be dealt with as
"undisputable or some form of a permit that limits our authority." Throwing a
stone at America's most prominent glass house, Khorafi noted that Washington has
violated human rights by "holding prisoners without trial or legal procedure" at
the US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. "In Kuwait, our best is always
done to resolve any negativity that takes place (at human rights level),"
Al-Khorafi said. Ambassador Miller acknowledged that slavery remains "a
scourge that extends throughout the world," including the United States. While
he didn't mention the accusations of human rights abuses levelled at the United
States over the Gitmo detentions, he did say that in America, hundreds of women
are trafficked into the country as sex slaves.
Speaking about Kuwait, Miller listed three types of trafficked persons:
domestic servants and housemaids, construction workers and child camel jockeys.
Miller argues that tools to combat slavery include public awareness through
education and media campaigns, labour laws and enforcement of laws to protect
victims and prosecute violators.When asked why Washington had chosen now to
lower Kuwait's rating to the third tier - where it could face sanctions from the
US government if no substantive progress has been made by September - Miller
said that "We don't believe the government of Kuwait is making significant
efforts to combat slavery. Deeds have yet to match words." For the Trafficking
in Humans report, the US State Department gathers information from a variety of
sources including US Embassies abroad, other governments and embassies, press
and media reports, academic papers and staff visits, says Miller. "We are hoping
that in the next several months Kuwait will articulate an approach to change
these laws to give some protection to those who find themselves in slave like
conditions," says Miller.
When challenged on why the US seems to love to rank and rate other
countries on human rights issues and terrorism, Miller admitted that the US
would rank at the "top of tier two" - one rank above Kuwait - when it comes to
trafficking in humans. The US government is now looking for "appreciable
programmes" that demonstrate a Kuwaiti government will to address the problem.
According to unofficial estimates, there are more than 300,000 Asian maids in
Kuwait - about one for every two Kuwaitis. Human Rights Watch, a
non-governmental organisation which monitors human rights abuses around the
globe - argues that Asian maids in Kuwait are routinely subject to physical
abuse, unlawful confinement, passport confiscation, withholding of wages, sexual
abuse, rape and assault.
Ambassador Miller says the US government hopes that by raising awareness,
the Kuwaiti government will focus greater efforts on providing education to
would-be sponsors and potential recruits, shelters for those who have been
abused, public awareness campaigns and improved labour laws...

The problem, which the USA quite rightly is highlighting, is that the Kuwaiti government is not doing anything to resolve the slavery issue. Sure, the USA is no angel in this matter and has its own people trafficking problems.

As I’ve commented in this blog previously, the Kuwaiti Labour Laws have still not been amended. And being a cynic, even if the laws are changed, everyone knows in Kuwait that the rule of law is applied differently depending on your nationality thanks to institutionalised racism, or is amenable to “wasta” (the use of relationships or a network for favours). The judicial system clearly doesn’t work in Kuwait as in other Gulf states. Even in Bahrain which is a little more progressive in these matters, not one national citizen has been prosecuted for abuse or rape of a housemaid.

Then you have the issue of the home countries of those that are exploited – the maids, labourers, prostitutes, et al - who themselves are quite happy to sweep things under the carpet, and not make too big a deal about the exploitation. As long as you have third world embassies whose main function is to pick up the pieces of individuals and arrange for them to get home, rather than confront the problem head on and withdraw their nationals from the market altogether (as some countries have done / are threatening to do), then the problem will continue. These supplier countries can do something, but often won’t as their economies do very well thank you from expat remittances. Then there’s the comfortable life a diplomatic post entails (particularly coming from a third world country)… why rock the boat (or ‘gravy train’ to use another metaphor)! And these countries aren’t immune to the greasing of palms… all unsubstantiated uncorroborated thinking on my part of course.

The USA State Department didn’t mention the fourth group of trafficked persons in Kuwait – prostitutes – so I will. If you read the constant stories in newspapers about prostitution dens being broken up by police in the country, you’ll get an inkling of how this is another huge area for exploitation (as it is everywhere in the world). Sadly, it appears that a number of the prostitutes are runaway maids hoping to earn a few bucks. Talk about jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire!

Might we see reform of Kuwait's Labour Laws sometime soon?

From yesterdays Arab Times:

Changes eyed to expat labour law

KUWAIT CITY (AFP): Kuwait said Sunday it may change labour laws that have
come under fire for creating unfair conditions for Kuwait's 1.8 million foreign
workers. The US Department of State in its annual Trafficking in Persons
Report released Friday criticised Kuwait and three other Gulf states for not
doing enough to halt human trafficking and child labour." Yes, the labour
market has many problems, but we are actively working to safeguard the integrity
of foreign workers by issuing more regulations," said Adnan Al-Omar, a labour
ministry official.
Currently, foreigners working in Kuwait's private sector must have a
"sponsor," a regulation which restricts their movement and puts them at the
mercy of their employers. Omar said Kuwait has been cooperating with the
International Labour Organization for the past four years, and is considering
ILO suggestions for changing the sponsor requirement...

That’s right… 4 years cooperating, ie. talking, talking, talking... but not actually getting around to making any changes to the Labour Laws. According to another newspaper article, the Labour Laws haven’t been amended in 40 years! So no wonder the US State Department is getting on the case. Let's see some action! Meanwhile, don't be surprised if there are more violent demonstrations from abused workers.

This is another example of the length of time any reform or change takes in this part of the world.

Freedom to discuss Human Rights in Bahrain?

And following up from yesterday's post - what to do with home-grown human rights NGOs. Shut them down of course. This from today's Gulf Daily News.

If you clamp down on one society, in this case the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), it will only pop up again in another guise...

GCC countries to issue own 'rights' reports

What a brain fart reported in this morning's Gulf Daily News...

Gulf to issue rights reports

COUNTRIES in the GCC may start to issue their own annual reports on terrorism, human rights and human resources to offset those compiled by international organisations. GCC Secretary General Abdulrahman Al Attiyah proposed the move at the seventh GCC consultative meeting on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

He claimed there is a need to counter reports on the GCC by
international organisations because they "may be inaccurate".
"My proposal was well received by the leadership of GCC states at the meeting," he said following yesterday's Press conference at the Foreign Ministry, in Manama.

A new department is now expected to be formed at the GCC General Secretariat specifically to issue reports, which would be compiled in co-operation with relevant government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in member states...

Indepedent observers keep writing bad things about GCC countries, so let's do something about it... Hmmm, I know, let's write our own reports about how glorious things are. Brilliant plan! That should encourage gullible investors & create a few more jobs.

As if the media isn't controlled enough already. Maybe the GCC will be seeking to counter this type of stuff from the International Crisis Group.

Kuwaiti women get the vote... at last!

Some good news in Kuwait in the last month as we witnessed the Prime Minister pushing through the vote in Parliament emancipating woman, giving them the right to vote and stand in elections at long last… starting in 2007. This introduces a real dilemma for the hard-line Islamist bloc, as this means they will have to allow their women to vote if they are to have any hope of retaining or winning any seats in Parliament… after campaigning that women should never be allowed to vote, let alone stand for public office.

There were some real humdinger excuses given by the Islamists to unsuccessfully sway support for their point of view, including one saying recently that women in Parliament would break down and cry if they couldn’t get their way… maybe this is the behaviour of their wives at home, but, this isn’t necessarily the way that woman act! This is desperation talk, as let’s face it, woman are pretty good at playing politics too, and the dimwittedness of some current parliamentarians will be even more evident. Now, you boys will have to behave in Parliament and not act like schoolboy bullies…

Here are some other quotes from opponents to woman gaining the vote:

Islamist MP Faisal al-Muslim told Reuters he voted against the law. "An MP
position in parliament would make women responsible for the masses and that is
anti-Islamic," he said.

Daifallah Buramia, another Islamist MP who also voted against the bill,
said: "Anyone who supports the passage of this law would bear the sin until
Judgement Day."

Al-Rai Al-Aam quoted MP Mohammad Al-Baseeri as saying. "Kuwait is
witnessing the after shocks of this decision as Islamic parties will be the
biggest beneficiaries of these changes," he added. Al-Baseeri continued,
"Islamic parties support women and their social rights. The accusations of some
political personalities that the Islamic Front stands against women's rights and
wants to take away their political rights are wrong," he noted.

Yeah right, it’s a woman’s right to be obligatory covered from head to toe, not to be contaminated by using the same voting booth as the other sex…

It will be fascinating to see how the voting patterns change in 2007. Logically, I would have thought, emancipating women will increase the number of liberal representation versus Islamic representation in Parliament (in a broad brush way, not that it’s necessarily that clear-cut, as hopefully we’ll also see voter power removing liberal MPs that are incompetent and corrupt, and installing moderate Islamists).

Sure, there will be lots of women that follow their master’s instructions, but equally it can be argued that there will be a large number of oppressed women that use the power of an anonymous vote to go against the wishes of their masters having seen through the rhetoric of the self-righteous standard bearers of Islam. Maybe, this is wishful thinking. As George Bernard Shaw said, "Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for the appointment by the corrupt few." Let’s hope not.

As another aside, a comment from a friend yesterday was that today’s Kuwait & the division between Islamic fundamentalists and the common public reminds them of the behaviour of the Puritans a century or so ago. History always repeats.

Various commentators have alluded to the number of eligible voters with women being able to vote. The amendment will increase the number of eligible voters in Kuwait from the current 145,000 males to more than 350,000 people, or 37 percent of Kuwait’s native population of 956,000.
More than a 100% increase, but still only 37% of the native population will be able to vote. I haven’t got the time to research the reasons why the proportion is still rather low... maybe later. Pure speculation, but are there a large number of people with legal cases registered against them (therefore being ineligible to vote)?

Uzbekistan's war for terror

Having lived in Uzbekistan in the mid-90’s it has always been close to my heart. The bad news currently emanating from Uzbekistan though is at risk of being brushed over, and easily forgotten - as were the riots and killings in the early 90’s in the newly created Khirghiz part of the Ferghana valley, after the break-up of the Soviet Union.

This is a disaster that has a sense of inevitability about it, in that eventually the Uzbek regime would lash out against any protest that threatened the legitimacy of the state. And, as a strategic ally of the USA, they know they can get away with it (for now). Eventually, probably 5-10 years from now, you can foresee a day that once the crimes start piling up the USA will eventually get around to sorting out the dictator they once supported, ala Saddam Hussein (once, or if, they have Afghanistan and Iraq under control). Mind you, by then they may have more pressing concerns in Iran or North Korea, or some other hotspot that is considered strategically more important. Being the world’s policeman is not an easy job, and with other countries that could play a role, happy to let the USA bear the responsibility (particularly if good business can be done thanks to an USA self imposed embargo, ala France and Iran), there will probably be little respite for the Uzbek populace for many years.

A good source for information about the regime's crackdown on protestors and the fallout in Andijan can be found here.

Maid injured in fall

Every week there are articles like this in the daily newspapers in Kuwait...

Maid injured in fall: A Sri Lankan maid has been admitted to the Mubarak
Al-Kabeer Hospital with fractures and bruises all over the body, reports Al-Rai
Al-Aam daily. It has been reported the maid fell to the ground while attempting
to escape from the second floor of the maids recruiting office in Hawalli. A
case has been registered against the maid. (my italics)

This was in today's Arab Times. As I posted the other day, a maid's recruiting office is often no better than a modern day slave trader. Often these agents hold a number of prospective maids locked up in a back room so they can't escape to their embassies, and then they have maids on hand to present to prospective employers who don't want to wait to import and sponsor a maid. And to show you where the power lies in this arrangement, it's the maid who is prosecuted for escaping her master.

This is not a isolated case... this happens daily, whether a maid is escaping from her her sponsor/employer, an agent or someone who has picked her up off the street and offered her a better life, only to drive her to a deserted place... If we can read about it in the papers everyday, what is the number of stories that aren't publicised?

And on a positive note...

Just to show that I can provide some good news, and it isn't really such a bad place to live... an ex-pat friend had a wee accident recently. She actually backed into her Kuwaiti neighbour's car and did some slight damage. Prepared for the worst she wrote a note claiming responsibility and in a rush left it on the car windscreen. Later she met up with her neighbour and very unexpectedly was told "no, no, please don't worry, you're my neighbour, how could I possibly expect you to pay for damage to my car." An example of the nicer side of Kuwaitis, and Arab culture in general.

Justice in the Gulf

Time to comment on some of the latest news in Kuwait and the Gulf.

Today's Arab Times brings the latest news on a case which shocked many last year, with 3 policemen getting off after raping a Filipino maid on a technicality... she was only sodomised, so she's still a virgin. Sick...

Court hears 3 policemen's petition against rape case

KUWAIT CITY: The Court of Cassation Tuesday looked into a petition filed by
three Kuwaiti securitymen who have been charged with raping a Filipina housemaid
at the Sabah Al-Salem Police Station. The court then adjourned the hearing to
April 19, 2005 to give chance for the defense to prepare its argument. Case
papers indicate, the housemaid was raped while in detention by the three men
after she had escaped from her sponsor's house. The three men have denied the
accusation before the Public Prosecution and the Detention Renewal Judge.
However, the Criminal Evidences Department report showed the woman was raped on the day of the incident. On June 20, 2004, the Criminal Court had sentenced one
of the men to 15 years in jail and the other two to ten years each. On Nov 30,
2004, the Court of Appeals overturned the verdict of the Criminal Court and set
free all the men.

Then the same article gives another case which sounds a bit fishy...

Murder verdict May 31:

The Court of Cassation Tuesday set May 31, 2005 to issue a verdict in a petition filed by a Kuwaiti man, identified as Y.S. Al-Rashidi, who was sentenced to death by the Criminal Court for murdering a Filipina woman, identified as Waida D.B. in 1999. The sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by the Court of Appeals, after the lawyer for Rashidi, attorney Dukhi Al-Hasban, submitted to the court a letter of forgiveness issued by the victim's legal heirs - absolving the man from legal responsibility towards them. During the session, attorney Hasban told the court his client did not intend to murder the victim because the knife used in the crime belonged to the victim. He added the victim had planned to murder his client by using the same knife. However, defending himself he took the knife from her and stabbed her. Attorney Hasban also said the witness who claimed he had seen the incident should be considered a defence witness because his client had called him to accompany him while the victim was with him in the car. "Is it logical that a person who plans to murder brings a witness along?" wondered Hasban.

The letter of forgiveness, a copy of which was obtained by the Arab Times, shows the three relatives of the victim - her brother Nasser and two sisters Mama and Suraida - have forgiven the accused and prayed that he should not be sentenced to death. The purported letter said the victims' kin are no longer interested in pursuing the Case No. 561/99 against the man who murdered their sister on June 29, 1999. They also waived their right to compensation resulting from the death of their sister. The letter states, "We are all Muslims, wherein forgiveness is preferable and our agreement to accept compensation from the accused and have received the same in full as per our agreement with him. "Likewise, we hereby clear him from whatsoever charge now and in future," added the document. They added, they are executing
the affidavit to attest the veracity of all foregoing facts and support the
immediate release of the accused.

On May 10, 2004, the Philippines Embassy attorney Mashael Bouriky presented a letter to the court saying that victim's only heir was another woman and not those three mentioned in the letter submitted by the suspect's attorney to the court. The case papers show Rashidi had an affair with the victim. On the day of the incident he drove her and his friend J.R. Mohamed to the desert in Salmi. On the way the victim asked Rashidi to marry her because she was pregnant and the man refused. At driving some distance in the desert, Rashidi drove to an isolated place, about 500 meters from the main road and ordered the victim to get out of the car. He led her away from the car and subsequently stabbed her several times. When Mohamed saw his friend stabbing the victim, he rushed to the spot to help the victim but the
accused prevented him and stabbed the victim until she dropped dead. Rashidi
admitted in court that he killed the victim. Mohamed also testified in court
saying Rashidi stabbed Waida to death.

Rashidi must have made the pay-off to the wrong relatives! We'll wait with baited breath for the conclusion of this case on May 31.

Yesterday's Arab Times has the latest news about the trial of a man that murdered his daughter to “rid his shame” after completing the Haj.

Judge renews killer's detention until April 18

KUWAIT CITY: The Detention Renewal
Judge Monday renewed the detention of a Kuwaiti man, identified as A.K.
Al-Enezi, who has been charged with murdering his 11-year-old daughter, Asmaa,
on Jan 25, 2005 until April 18, 2005. Case papers indicate on the day of the
incident, Enezi had just returned from the Holy City of Makkah after performing
the hajj pilgrimage. The man then, suspecting his daughter's behaviour, is said
to have tied her hands behind her back and slit her throat as she begged for her
life. It is believed the victim was a clever student and excelled in reciting
the Holy Qur'an. During initial investigations, the man appeared embarrassed and
kept saying 'I don't know.' Sometimes he also cried while replying to
investigators' questions as if feeling sorry for what he had done.However, at a
later time, he admitted to committing the crime and said, "Yes, I killed her and
now my conscience is clear." He added he had washed the shame she had caused him
and his family. A reliable source told the Arab Times the man's Kuwaiti wife has
filed a case against the man, who had divorced her 50 days before committing the
crime, demanding alimony for her and their three children - Mohamed,
Ibrahim and Fatima. The 'wife' has also requested for custody of her three
children saying their father can no longer be considered trustworthy, after
committing the ghastly crime.

Mercy killings as they’re known are still prevalent in the Gulf as in other parts of the muslim world. And if the upsetting horrific details of this case aren’t enough, what about the last sentence in the article.

I’m probably talking out of my a*** here, but from what I understand, a woman can’t easily divorce her husband – he has too divorce her – and then he always gets the kids. So even if he in this case has already cut the throat of one of the kids, the estranged wife still has to go through the legal system to get custody of the other children. I wonder how the 3 remaining kids are getting on… just think what they’re going through… when Dad gets off through some technicality we could be next!

Thanks to a link from eMoodz I picked up on this story where a Saudi princess has been charged with forcing her Indonesian maids to be slaves… no, not in Saudi itself where it’s common practice, but in the good ol’ USA. It seems that it’s illegal to treat people as slaves in the West – novel concept. I wonder who got the biggest shock - the Saudi princess, or the USA media and public.

This got me thinking about the domestic problems in Kuwait and the Gulf, and a timely article in the GDN discusses the problem in Bahrain. Now the Philippines is studying the possibility of banning the deployment of housemaids to Bahrain and other Gulf countries, after Bangladesh and Indonesia have already imposed a ban on housemaids in Bahrain. By all accounts, the situation is worse in Kuwait – with hundreds of runaway maids being housed in the Sri Lankan, Filipino and Indonesian embassies at any one time, waiting for their paperwork to be processed so they can leave. This was also the situation at the Indian embassy until the Indian Government imposed a ban on housemaids coming to Kuwait. This raises the question – when will the Indonesian, Sri Lankan and Filipino governments ban housemaids coming to Kuwait? Presumably the Indonesians have banned them going to Bahrain already, as there is no embassy there (consular matters are handled from Kuwait).

Without addressing the fundamental issues of slavery, physical & verbal abuse, rape and non-payment of wages - which are the major reasons for maids running away from their employers/sponsors - when countries start banning workers coming here, the problem will just shift to other countries. So expect sometime soon we will have the Kuwaiti Government announce that citizens are allowed to employ housemaids from Sudan or Ethiopia… if it hasn’t done so already! And then there’s the issue of many so-called “housemaids” effectively being trafficked to supply the prostitution rings.

So, apart from educating locals on how to treat other people with respect… (this is rather reminiscent of one of the issues in my workplace!), why isn’t more being done to crack down on the intermediaries, the firms that deal with this international trafficking of housemaids/prostitutes to the Gulf? Not really in the Government’s interests I suggest. (And limited interest being shown by developing world countries that let the workers come here as they’re an important source of income back home).

Like the booze black market, it’s probably controlled, if not by the Royal families (as rumoured) which are beyond the law, by influential businessmen. No one is going to take on this establishment. Therefore, the only action we will see is the odd Employment Agency having its license revoked. It’s like the drug runners being paraded in the daily media after being caught trafficking their contraband. Their masters/clients are never caught, there’s no resolve to go after the big guns. They accept the odd arrest & eventual hanging of some poor Pakistanis as the cost of doing business, at virtually no risk, as these poor guys won’t know who their end-employers were anyway.

Molester freed after verdict overturned by Court of Appeals

Well if you're a woman and you're seeking justice - the Court of Appeals ain't the place. In today's Arab Times we read...

Appeals overturns verdict, 'molester' freed

KUWAIT CITY: The Court of Appeals citing a letter of forgiveness and
willingness to withdraw the case, Sunday overturned the verdict of the Criminal
Court and refrained from passing a sentence against a Kuwaiti man, identified as
M. Khalaf, who was convicted of molesting, holding captive and torturing his
wife. During a previous session, lawyer for the man, attorney Riyadh Al-Sane,
told the court his client did not intend to 'molest' his wife as the Prosecution
had charged him. He added the man became furious after learning about his wife's
relationship with other men.
Attorney Al-Sane also said attempts were being made at reconciliation
between the two parties to begin anew their family life and bring up their
children in a family atmosphere.The lawyer pointed out modern studies show the
charge of molestation is accompanied by a bodily desire of the molester;
however, this desire did not exist in the case of his client who wanted to take
revenge for his wife's behavior unlike as has been charged by the Prosecutor in
his report.At the end of his argument, attorney Al-Sane had requested the court
to give the couple a chance to begin a new life.
Case papers indicate between Feb 25 and 29, 2004, Khalaf locked his wife
inside the kitchen of their home after he suspected her of having illegal
relationships with 'strangers'. During that period, Khalaf also tortured his
wife and beat her. He is also said to have inserted a large iron rod in her
private parts.On Nov 20, 2004, the Criminal Court had sentenced Khalaf to 15
years in prison. The session was presided by Judge Anwar Al-Enezi. Judges Sobhi
Al-Far and Hussein Al-Heraiti completed the panel. Registrar Ahmed Al-Shardan
also attended the session.

So assuming what's reported is accurate... (yeah, I know, fat chance) and reading in between the lines here, a guy tortures his wife and then gets off scot free! (... I don't know where that saying comes from - must be something in my scottish ancestry). I wonder if the wife, or her legal representative, even got a hearing from the Court of Appeals to present their side of the case! What pressures were put on the wife to withdraw the case? Maybe, just maybe, ....she's glad to get back with her husband. As always the cynic, I doubt it somehow. Get away from this guy when you can, my dear.

Hey, at least they could get a case heard in a Criminal Court. Unlike the hundreds of Indonesian & Filipino maids that are beaten and/or raped by their employers/slave masters.

Kuwaiti academic gets one year for disparaging Quran

Ya gotta watch what you say in this part of the world. From yesterday's Kuwait Times...

Kuwaiti academic gets one year for disparaging Quran
KUWAIT: A leading liberal academic has been handed a one-year suspended
jail term by Kuwait's appeals court for writing an article deemed offensive to
the holy Quran, he said yesterday. Ahmad Al-Baghdadi, a university political
science professor and columnist, was convicted of "disparaging the Quran" for
criticising plans by the Ministry of Education to increase the number of Islamic
education lessons in schools. The court, which passed its verdict on Saturday,
told Al-Baghdadi to pay KD 2,000 to suspend the jail term and ordered him to
keep good conduct for three years. In an article he wrote in his daily column in
Al-Siyassah newspaper last June, Al-Baghdadi said he sent his son to a private
foreign school to escape the "backwardness" of public education and because he
thought "learning music is more important than learning the holy Quran." "The
sentence is a harsh one. I only expressed my opinion. I did not degrade the
Quran," Al-Baghdadi, 54, said. He said he would pay the bail and later challenge
the sentence in the court of cassation, the country's supreme court. Al-Siyassah
editor Ahmad al-Jarallah was also fined $170 for allowing the publication of the
article. The two were acquitted by the criminal court a few months ago because
it considered the criticism as part of freedom of expression. The case was filed
by three Islamist activists on the grounds that the article contained an
accusation that Islamic education in Kuwait teaches students to be terrorists
and hate women and non-Muslims. The appeals court said in its verdict that the
article "linked between learning Islam and the Quran and terrorism and
backwardness." Baghdadi was sentenced for one month in prison in October 1999
for offending Islam in a 1996 article in which he claimed the Prophet Mohammad
(pbuh) failed in at least part of his mission. But he was pardoned by the Amir
after serving 13 days. "It's painful and bitter to receive such sentences. I
will start seeking political asylum in any country," Al-Baghdadi said.

Good on ya mate for speaking up. Clearly the quality (or lack of it) of the Ministry of Education's syllabus for Islamic studies is a problem. In fact, from all accounts it's totally crap! Why else would a reputable foreign curriculum school's Islamic education teachers actually clamour for resources they can use to teach children, outside of the Ministry's enforced syllabus. And then there is the way the Ministry of MisEducation enforces a syllabus that attempts to teach classical Arabic to children that are learning Arabic as a second (or third or fourth) language. I'm all for my children learning Arabic. I welcome it in fact. What a shame that most ex-pat children are turned off Arabic because there is no recognition of how a language can & should be taught.

And isn't that a nice touch, giving the paper's editor a slap on the wrist for publishing someone's opinion. Freedom of the press? Forget it if it can be alleged that you've disparaged the Quran.

Free Mojtaba and Arash

Don't have the time to delve into all the details, but there's a blogging campaign on to free Arash Sigarchi and Mojtaba Saminejad - two Iranian bloggers who are currently in prison because of their blogs. Chan'ad has all the relevant links on his blog.

American paranoia

Last chance to post something before I'll be pretty much incommunicado for 10 days backpacking around Iran. Time to travel there before the Americans bomb the place... interesting what Seymour Hersh claims in the New Yorker. I guess this is what you'd term running an idea up the flagpole and ensuring that Iran gets the message that if you don't back down on developing nukes we're coming after ya. Of course, Pentagon officials have termed the article full of fabrications, rumours, blah blah, ... but where there's smoke...

After the latest big shootout incident in Kuwait on Saturday, where security forces busted a terrorist cell in Umm Al-Haiman district, I was extremely pissed off to find an event I was going to that evening was cancelled as the American Embassy had notified all their citizens to stay indoors and not go out. Really guys, get a life!! To put this in perspective, the Kuwait Prime Minster can see fit to inspect the site of the terrorist bust, but all American citizens are advised to stay indoors. I wouldn't be surprised if the advice mentioned warm milk and cookies, and cuddling up with their favourite teddybear too.

[I'd really love to just link to relevant Kuwaiti newspaper articles but they don't archive the pages... and I'm getting sick of cutting & pasting, as the formatting in Blogger doesn't work to well when you use quotation marks - can anyone advise me on this one?]

And now it's even safer to venture out. According to today's Arab Times they've let out all the bad cops - is this to put them in the front-line for further terrorist cell busts (where the security forces seem to be coming off second best), use them as informers, or put them back on the beat to waste their days idly sipping tea at the police station? Actually, the latter is kinda like prison anyhow.

Jailed policemen to be freed: Upon instructions of the First Deputy Premier
and Minister of Interior Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, Lieutenant-General
Nasser Al-Othman, Undersecretary of the Ministry recently issued a decision to
release all police personnel who are serving time in a military jail, reports a
press release issued by the ministry. The decision is taken on the occasion of
Eid Al-Adha.

Anti-monarchy protests in Saudi

I'm sure there's lots of other country leaders that wish they could do this to anyone that protests against their regime, and get away with it. In today's Arab Times, we get a glimpse of life in the Magic Kingdom next door:

Saudi to jail, lash 15 for anti-monarchy protests

RIYADH (Reuters) - A Saudi
court has sentenced 15 people, including a woman, to prison terms and lashings
for taking part in an illegal street protest against the royal family, Saudi
media said on Wednesday. Newspapers said the 15 were put on trial for
participating in rare anti-monarchy demonstrations in Jeddah on Dec. 16.
Government officials were unavailable for comment. The demonstrators were given
jail sentences ranging from two to six months and ordered to receive between 100
and 250 lashes apiece, newspapers said. A further six defendants are awaiting
trial in the Jeddah court. The state prosecutor called the sentences too lenient
and said the government would appeal for stiffer punishment.

Me thinks the State Prosecutor would like to see heads roll. Well if you stifle opposition & suppress the people it's going to get worse, a lot worse. And then, before you know it, it's you're head that's rolling, a la Nicolae Ceausescu in Roumania. [insert appropriate proverb...] Why do I get the sense that Al Qaeda appears to be winning this war? No indications in this story that there is a spirit of reform in Saudi... I don't think shwe-shwe (arabic for slowly-slowly) is always the answer.

And we're now up to more than 30 suspects in the Hawalli shoot-out, according to today's Arab Times...

KUWAIT (Agencies): Kuwaiti authorities have detained more than 30 Kuwaiti
and Saudi Islamists for questioning about a deadly shootout this week between
suspected militants and state security forces, security sources said on
Wednesday. "The authorities have arrested at least 30 Islamists, most of whom
are Kuwaiti as well as several Saudis ... for questioning over the shootout," a
security source told Reuters. He said state security officials had previously
questioned most of the detainees over suspected "extremist activity" and that
some of the men had spent time in Afghanistan...

..."The interrogation is ongoing with 30 suspects," the Interior Minister,
Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, told Al-Anba newspaper, after Monday's
gunbattle. The minister did not rule out that the perpetrators of the incident,
a rare occurrence in Kuwait, could be among those detained. The arrests came as
part of a major crackdown by security forces in areas used by suspected Islamist
militants following the gunfight, which triggered a new US warning to its
citizens in the country. Those arrested include the assailants' alleged
ideological mentor, who is a former mosque preacher and a hardline Islamist, a
security source told AFP.

And here's a gem from the paper earlier this week:

2 held for indecent signs: The Mubarak Al-Kabeer police have arrested a Kuwaiti
man, with past criminal records and a compatriot woman for allegedly making
indecent signs at a camera monitoring traffic. The suspects have been referred
to the authorities, reports Al-Qabas daily.

Wow. Big brother is everywhere!

The saga continues - Hawalli 5 O

The newspapers today have various eye-witness accounts of the shootings in Hawalli and naturally none of these tally with the official statements issued by the Ministry of Interior. Did we expect them to? No, of course not. One of the eye-witness accounts seems to indicate that a gunmen stalked and shot three plain-clothes policeman. I guess we'll never know the truth, suffice to say it appears as though the Ministry of Interior "police" stuffed up.

Here's a copy of what appeared in today's Arab Times:

Blood everywhere ... it was over in 5 minutes
KUWAIT CITY: There was blood everywhere and people were fleeing the scene
of the shoot-out in Maidan Hawally, say two men who were at the scene where
three people were killed including two policemen on Monday. While both of them
paint a similar picture of the shoot-out, both of them differ on the actual
sequence of events. "There were loud bangs. At first I thought children were
bursting crackers but when I saw a man holding a gun, I knew something was
wrong," said the first witness to the shooting. The witness who works at a shop
close to the scene and who refused to be identified said he saw two men entering
a shop and asking the address of a car rental shop and as the manager was
explaining them the direction of the shop, a policeman in mufti allegedly opened
fire.The source added that the two men then ducked behind a table and started
returning the fire, saying the gun battle continued for some time and that the
policeman was badly hurt. "The two assailants were also injured and one of them
was lying on the floor in a pool of blood." He said the policeman received three
bullets - two in the chest and one in the abdomen and later succumbed to his
injuries. According to the witness all the policemen were in civilian clothes.He
showed these reporters the spot where the policeman breathed his last, adding he
also saw two more people lying dead in a pool of blood. Bullet marks were also
seen on the ceiling adjacent to the shop with two bullets piercing the glass
door of the car rental shop. A source showed the Arab Times four bullet marks in
the shop where the gun battle took place, two of the bullets pierced the leg of
a computer table while one hit a floor tile. Meanwhile, another eye witness of
the shoot-out Basha, an Indian driver at a neighboring car rental company, said,
"I was making tea in my office, and as I was feeling cold, I went to my car,
parked just outside, to switch on the heater and warm myself."Basha's narration
continued: "That's when a group of men pulled along in a black car and three of
them got out. One of them went to my office, and the other two went to that
office," he said pointing at a glass door in the extreme right of the same
building. The men were asking directions to Caza Rental, which is situated in
the same corridor. "Just then another car pulled up and a man from the car
walked past my car brazenly holding what looked like an automatic rifle. But
since he was wielding it so openly, I thought it must be a toy gun," he said.
But the drama that followed soon after shocked Basha. A flurry of rat-tats made
him look up and he saw the man, who was asking for directions, lying in a pool
of blood right in front of his office. Basha pointed at a hole in the middle of
cobweb-like cracks on the glass door of his office saying that was one of the
many bullets sprayed in the encounter. "Meanwhile," he added, "the other two men
at the far end of the corridor became alert. One of them ran inside the office,
while the other flicked out a gun from his socks and attempted to return fire.
But he was also shot at and subdued." The shooter then hounded the third man,
who was inside the other office, and shot him as well, Basha said. "The whole
incident was over in less than five minutes, and the shooter walked back to his
car and sped away. There was total mayhem. I lay ducked in my car for a while,
not knowing what was happening." If he had not gone to his car, leaving the
water in the kettle to boil, then he too could have been killed, he added
looking calm and composed, narrating the incident alongside washing his car. A
person from his office informed the police, who arrived at the scene within a
few minutes. People crowded shocked by the dramatic turn of events. "The first
man who was shot, I think died on the spot. The other man who was lying at the
end of the corridor seemed to be alive and was struggling for life. I don't know
about the third man." "A team of police made quick enquiries and went to chase
down the getaway car. Soon after that I retired, feeling nauseated and shocked
by the blood that ran down the corridor."

The same paper also has a follow-on story:

Kuwait collars 10
KUWAIT CITY: Security forces Tuesday arrested at least 10 Islamic
extremists, including three persons from one house in Jaber Al-Ali area, when
they conducted raids at several locations all over Kuwait, say sources. Kuwait
securitymen took this action after two policemen and a wanted suspect, who they
were chasing, were killed Monday in a shoot-out in Maidan Hawally. A reliable
security source said, "some key persons, who are suspected to be involved in the
killing of two police officers in Monday's shoot-out, may be among the
arrested."
He said the arrested suspects are being interrogated, adding "security
forces will continue with the raids until all the suspects involved in the
killing of the two policemen are arrested to know their future plans." "The
Interior Ministry is cracking down on suspected militants across the country," a
source told Reuters. He, however, had a lower figure of arrests. "State security
is now holding a minimum of six Kuwaitis, who will be questioned on the
whereabouts of the gunmen who carried out the crime," the source said....

At least 10, minimum of 6, whatever... maybe they should get the Ministry of (dis)Information involved. The Ministry of Interior is doing themselves and the country no favours by not coming clean on what's going on

Putting it into perspective though, safety in Kuwait isn't really a worry. You're still more likely to get bowled crossing a road (or be caught up in a criminal shoot-out in the USA) than being involved in a shoot-out with terrorists in Kuwait.

The dangers of blogging

Another blogger loses his day job over what he wrote in his blog about his boss - this time in the UK. No wonder it pays to stay anonymous. So much good material to write about if I start writing about work - maybe that deserves another anonymous blog...

So after the shoot up in Hawalli the baddies are still at large. The Arab Times newspaper had the following write-up if you missed it:

Officers, gunman killed after US warns Westerners of drive-by shooting
threat
KUWAIT CITY: Two policemen and a wanted suspect they were chasing were
killed Monday in a shootout in a suburb of the capital, the Interior Ministry
and state media said. The suspect, Fawwaz Tlaiq Al-Otaibi, was injured in the
shooting and died of his wounds in the hospital, state television reported.
Al-Otaibi allegedly shot at police chasing him after he entered a shop in the
Hawally suburb of the capital. He was wounded but escaped into a waiting car
with a number of his "colleagues" in it, according to an Interior Ministry
statement quoted by the television station. "One of the suspects in the car"
shot at police as it left the scene killing the two policemen and injuring two
others, it said. Within an hour, the Kuwait News Agency announced that Al-Otaibi
had been arrested. Later the television said he had died. The reports did not
specify what the men were wanted for, nor if any others had been arrested along
with Al-Otaibi. Unconfirmed reports, however, quoted securitymen as saying a
second suspect had been arrested and was in Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital after
being wounded. Interior Minister Sheikh Nawwaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah told state
television he had visited the injured policemen, who were in stable condition at
the hospital. He said Al-Otaibi had entered a car rental shop to return a
vehicle when police attempted to capture him. The minister said Al-Otaibi and
his friends in the car used pistols to shoot at police. "While fleeing, one of
the persons in the vehicle fired at the policemen killing Lieutenant Hamad
Mohammed Al-Ayyobi and Sergeant Ayman Al-Rushoud. Sergeant Bader Al-Methen was
shot in the abdomen while Sergeant Fahd Al-Samhan was shot in the elbow," a
security source told the Arab Times. He also said suspect Al-Otaibi was shot in
the head in the exchange of fire. "All the suspects are known to us and we know
they had fought in Afghanistan and Iraq," the source said. "They are extremists
and we will arrest them within hours." Meanwhile, a medical source at the
Casualty Room in Mubarak Hospital, Hawally, where all the injured were rushed,
said, "we received three persons with gun shot wounds around 7:00pm." "We tried
to resuscitate Al-Otaibi, who was shot in the head, at the ICU. But our attempts
failed and he died," he added."A bullet had penetrated Sergeant Bader
Al-Methane's abdomen from the right side and gone out from the other side. We
operated on him immediately and he is in a stable condition at the ICU," the
source continued. He went on to say, "Sergeant Fahd Al-Samhan, who was shot in
the elbow, was operated on and later rushed to Al-Razi Hospital for further
treatment." Authorities have been cracking down on Islamic militants opposed to
the presence of US forces in Kuwait. The Hawalli incident happened a day after
Kuwait lifted a high security alert imposed two weeks ago. Under the measures,
security personnel in armoured vehicles fanned out in key areas, especially
around vital oil installations and Western embassies.

In another article in the paper, the well-respected reformist Sheikh Saud Nasser Al-Sabah, an ex-Minister of Information (before being ousted by an Islamist campaign for allowing controversial and banned books to be sold at a local book fair) and ex-Minister of Oil had the following to say:

Describing the security situation in the country as "fire under ash," Sheikh
Saud said, "sleeper cells are still present in Kuwait. Sadly some of them
are in
the military and security forces. We have been warning of this danger
for many
years and we expect more sleeper cells will be uncovered in the
future."

He's also been qouted in international media recently as well, referring to how Kuwait is being hijacked by Islamist groups - see this and this.

Breaking news

Talk last night from expats & a flurry of embassy warden notices was about a black Nissan Cherry looking for expats to gundown, and a shooting in Hawalli. In this mornings Gulf Daily News:

Two die in Kuwait
KUWAIT: Gunmen killed two state security personnel pursuing them in Kuwait City yesterday, the Interior Ministry said.
Security sources added that one of the suspects, a wanted
Kuwaiti man identified as Fawaz Al Otaibi, died later in hospital of his wounds. Two state security officers were wounded in the shootout.

Will wait to see what the Kuwait papers have...

Keystone cops in Kuwait

This week’s excitement has been the full security alerts, the arrest of several suspected Al Qaeda agents in the security forces and subsequent release of most of them with two remaining to face charges, and the arrest of a journalist who allegedly got his facts wrong. The Arab Times sums it up in yesterday’s paper:

Arabiya correspondent charged, freed on bail; 'Harmed national interest' KUWAIT CITY (AP):

An Al-Arabiya satellite television network correspondent was released
on bail Saturday after prosecutors quizzed him for hours over a disputed report
on an alleged shootout between militants and police, his lawyer said. Adel
Eidan, a Kuwaiti, was detained Wednesday on charges of spreading false news that
harmed national interests following a report about a shootout. The Interior
Ministry denied the report less than half an hour after Al-Arabiya went to air
with it, saying the report was "not true and caused panic." A Kuwait News Agency
(KUNA) journalist and a security official were also detained for investigation
and released on bail. Lawyer Nawwaf Al-Mutairi said Eidan was investigated by
prosecutors and released on 300 dinars ($1,000) bail, but added that his client
could face trial or authorities could close the case. The others detained face
the same charges as Eidan, Al-Mutairi said. The reported shootout came amid
increased security fears in this country, which has recently stationed armed
military and police vehicles at street junctions, near hotels and embassies.
Last month, the US Embassy warned its citizens of possible attacks against them.
Two Kuwaiti military personnel will stand trial in a military court for
allegedly planning to attack "coalition troops," in the country, which is a
major US ally in the Gulf. Al-Mutairi said he hoped security concerns would not
become a "justification for limiting press freedoms." Eidan also had broadcast
the official denial of the shootout, proving "the matter was nothing more than
his getting information from sources he believed were credible," the lawyer said
in a statement…

So it looks like it was a fake report then – poor journalism, not checking sources, etc. Maybe poor journalism deserves imprisonment after all (tongue in cheek). No, no, proper response is for Al-Arabiya to give Eidan his marching orders or, as anyone can make a mistake, give him another chance to make amends for stuffing up.

Shame it’s not a big cover-up – nothing like a good conspiracy theory in this part of the world. The article goes on.

…Al-Mutairi did not say if the KUNA reporter and security official were Eidan's sources, adding the correspondent had no intention to harm Kuwait. Al-Arabiya, which broadcasts from Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, condemned the Kuwaiti
government for detaining one of its correspondents. "We respect the law, but the detention of a journalist for investigation instead of talking to him in a more civilized way is saddening," Al-Arabiya General Manager Abdul-Rahman Al-Rashed said after Eidan's release. "It is saddening because it is happening in Kuwait."The US-based Committee to Protect
Journalists had also called for Eidan's release. Kuwait has less press restrictions than other Gulf countries, but its government has the right to close newspaper or TV stations. It shut the
offices of Qatar's Al-Jazeera television station in 2002, accusing it of being biased against Kuwait.First Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Saturday announced that the security authorities would not be reluctant in taking the required measures against any person who may try to target the security and stability of the country. In response to questions by journalists on referring the correspondent of Al-Arabiah television station to the public prosecution, Sheikh Nawaf said "We won't be reluctant in taking the proper measures against anyone who broadcasts
false reports that harm Kuwait and its security," stressing that the security of the homeland is the top priority.

Duh, how are journalists harming Kuwait and its security? You’re certainly doing more to harm Kuwait’s reputation by arresting journalists – don’t you get it? Notice the American-speak slipping in there, going on about "security of the homeland." Yawn.

Sheikh Nawaf said the correspondent and a number of persons were bailed out, adding that the judicial authorities would determine possible further action concerning this case. The national security is solid, being safeguarded by the faithful security forces, he said.

… yeah, right, he would have to say that wouldn't he. It’s some of the faithful security forces that that were arrested by police for plotting to commit terrorist acts in the first place.

And finally, Zahed Matar in an Arab Times editorial provides a good summing up over the journalist issue...

Wrong move by the Interior Ministry

Denying a news report doesn't necessarily mean it is wrong. Some denials are true, some are not. The same is the case with news. Some reports are accurate while some maybe wrong. But no reporter purposely files inaccurate news. The Interior Ministry was wrong to stop Adel Al-Eidan, a reporter of Al-Arabiya TV channel from working. Instead it could have denied the report filed by him. We don't want to hear accusations that Al-Eidan was involved in a big conspiracy because these are old tactics.Denying a report published by a reporter is in itself a punishment for the latter. Newspapers and TV channels are reporting news, not registering history. They may retract any news report if they find out it is untrue. It was a wrong move by the Interior Ministry to stop the Al-Arabiya reporter from doing his duty. The ministry should have some other explanation for its action.

The age of no consent

When are you old enough to have control over your own life? Obviously, if you're female and 23 years old that's not old enough and you can never be completely free, as indicated by this article in today's Arab Times.

Missing girl held: Police have 'arrested' a 23-year-old bedoun girl, on whom a missing persons report had been filed by her brother, reports Al-Watan daily. At the time of the arrest the girl was in the company of another bedoun girl and three youths at a camp in Julaia. During interrogation, the girl said one of the youths helped her to escape from her home and had sex with her several times. The 'lovers' have been referred to the Public Prosecution.

I'm not condoning what she did, ie. sex out of wedlock, etc., and obviosuly there is more to the story, but the facts here are that in the Gulf, if you're an unmarried woman, forget any notion of having control over your own life - if you bring shame on your family then they can always resort to getting you punished one way or another. Basic human rights issue here: if you are a 23-year old female in Kuwait, you don't have any freedom or the right to make your own mistakes.

That's a real mindset change from where, and when, I grew up... I left school and was pretty much independent at 16, even if I did choose to board at home for a few years to save money, to then leave home proper and attend University in another city. At 16, my wife (to be) spent a year away from her home as an exchange student... a different world.

Kuwait information minister resigns

I guess we'll hear all about it in Kuwait's press tomorrow...

Kuwait information minister resigns
(Reuters) 2 January 2005

KUWAIT - Kuwait’s Information Minister Mohammad Abulhasan, who is due to face public questioning in parliament, resigned on Sunday, the state news agency KUNA said.
Abulhasan handed in his resignation to Prime Minister
Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, KUNA said without giving details.
Abulhasan was scheduled to be questioned on Monday by some Islamist MPs over several allegations including negligence of social values after he approved music concerts in the Gulf Arab state, seen by Islamists as violating sharia law.

Another win to the Islamists. No parties on New Years eve - soon to be no parties full-stop.