Arab human rights group denounces imprisonment of Kuwaiti journalists

The Arab Organization for Human Rights in Cairo confirmed in a statement yesterday its solidarity with organizations and Kuwaiti public groups asking the Kuwaiti authorities to reconsider restrictive Kuwaiti press law, and to cancel imprisonment for "crimes of opinion" and to guarantee the freedom of opinion and expression for the Kuwaiti press.

At the same time the organization confirmed its anxiety toward the impartiality of the Kuwaiti judiciary, expressing its anxiety over the Kuwaiti courts' ruling suspending for one week the publication of al-Qabas and the Policy, and imprisoning Mohammed Ghasem El-Saker, the chief editor of al-Qabas newspaper, for six months.

The organization described in its statement these laws as forming the basis under which journalists in Kuwait are exposed to jail as criminals, a matter which stirs concern regarding the future of freedom of opinion and expression as guaranteed by the Kuwaiti constitution and confirmed by human rights charters.