US embassy cable - 05KUWAIT142

UNCLAS KUWAIT 000142 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO, PHUM, KU, GPGOV 
SUBJECT: GOK SILENCES AL ARABIYA REPORTER AFTER ERRONEOUS 
REPORT OF MILITANT SHOOT-OUT 
 
1. The GOK released January 8 on 300KD bail an Al Arabiya 
correspondent, detained January 5 for questioning after the 
Dubai-based news station aired a report of a shoot-out 
between militants and police. Adel Aidan, a Kuwaiti citizen, 
was taken into custody along with a journalist from the 
Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) and a security official on charges 
of spreading news that harmed the national interest; all 
three have been released. The Ministry of Interior (MOI) 
denied the report within 30 minutes of Al Arabiya 
broadcasting it, stating it was false and caused panic. A 
lawyer for Aidan claims the correspondent used information 
from sources he believed to be credible and did not intend to 
harm Kuwait. Should the GOK not drop the case, the three 
detainees will face trial. 
 
2. Both Al Arabiya and the U.S.-based Committee to Protect 
Journalists condemned the detentions. Local reporters staged 
a brief sit-in at the MOI in protest of the detention. While 
Kuwait has fewer restrictions on the press than other Gulf 
nations, it maintains the right to close newspapers or 
television stations. Qatar-based Al Jazeera, for example, has 
been without a Kuwait office since 2002 when the GOK accused 
it of anti-Kuwaiti reporting. 
 
3. Comment: This incident comes amid a heightened state of 
security after the recent announcement of an alleged plot 
among Kuwaiti military elements to attack coalition troops 
in-country. A ubiquitous display of Kuwaiti National Guard 
forces has sprung up outside of embassies, Western 
restaurants and shopping malls. Guardsmen and police are also 
present in traffic circles and in roving caravans along Gulf 
Road, the seaside thoroughfare. Alarming news reports carried 
by a single outlet and credited to anonymous government or 
"ministry" sources are not uncommon and typically appear and 
disappear with little notice taken by the public or 
government. The aggressive measures taken in this case likely 
result from a combination of the heightened security 
atmosphere and the vast number of Al Arabiya viewers 
throughout the Arab world likely to have seen a report 
questioning Kuwait's security position. End comment. 
LEBARON