US embassy cable - 05KUWAIT1192

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 001192 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR INR/R/MR, NEA/ARPI, NEA/PPD, PA, INR/NESA 
STATE FOR IIP/G/NEA-SA, INR/B, DRL 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE 
LONDON FOR GOLDRICH, PARIS FOR O'FRIEL 
USDOC FOR 4520/ANESA/ONE/FITZGERALD-WILKS 
USDOC FOR ITA AND PTO/OLIA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OIIP, KPAO, KMDR, KISL, PREL, PHUM, PGOV, KU, Press Freedom 
SUBJECT:  Appeals Court Sentence Silences Liberal 
Columnist, Stirs Censorship Fears 
 
Reftel: Kuwait 538 
 
(U) SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED -- PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. NOT 
FOR INTERNET. 
 
1. (U) SUMMARY: Sentenced to a one-year suspended jail term 
and three years probation for "defaming Islam," a liberal 
columnist said he will stop writing. The sentence, 
overruling a January acquittal, has writers wondering about 
the government's position on press freedom, and fearful of 
stiffer penalties that may await writers under the 
government's new press law proposal. END SUMMARY. 
 
 
"Isn't There An End For This Retardation?" 
----------------------------------------- 
 
2. (U) In a June 5, 2004 column in pro-government Arabic 
daily Al-Seyassah entitled, "Isn't There An End For This 
Retardation?" liberal Ahmed Al-Baghdadi excoriated the 
Ministry of Education for increasing religion classes and 
canceling music lessons in his 12-year-old son's private 
school. Al-Baghdadi, a professor of political science at 
Kuwait University who writes three columns a week for Al- 
Seyassah and others for an Abu Dhabi newspaper, wrote that 
he sent his son to private school, at considerable cost, to 
avoid the religious instruction in government schools. 
Still, he wrote, that could not save his son from "the 
retardation of the Ministry of Education syllabuses (sic)." 
[Note: religious education is mandatory in both government 
and private schools. End note.] 
 
3. (U) Al-Baghdadi wrote, "music is more important than 
teaching the Holy Qur'an." He added that he would prefer 
his son to learn English rather than Arabic, that he was 
afraid that ignorant religious teachers would instruct his 
son to disrespect women and non-Muslims, and that he did 
not want his son to have a "possible future in terrorism." 
 
4. (U) The office of the Public Prosecutor charged Al- 
Baghdadi with defaming Islam in print -- a crime under the 
current press and publications law -- soon after the 
article appeared. The Criminal Court acquitted him but on 
March 19, an Appeals Court ruling overturned the earlier 
decision and sentenced Al-Baghdadi to the maximum penalty: 
one year in prison followed by three years of probation. 
Al-Baghdadi can suspend the jail term by paying a $6,500 
fine, a payment he said he will make. 
 
"This is Very Dangerous, Really" 
--------------------------------- 
 
5. (SBU) According to the Appeals Court ruling, Al- 
Baghdadi's column defamed Islam by suggesting that there 
was a link between the Qur'an and terrorism; that the 
Qur'an encouraged the disrespect of women; and that 
scholars of the Qur'an and Islam were unable to learn 
modern knowledge and sciences. Al-Baghdadi said that 
Kuwaiti Appeals Court judges with connections to 
conservative religious movements overturned the earlier 
ruling, made by more secular Egyptian judges on the lower 
court. 
 
6. (SBU) Al-Baghdadi is familiar with the limits of Kuwaiti 
press freedom. In 1999, he served 13 days of a one-year 
sentence for a 1996 column considered insulting towards the 
Prophet Mohammed before being pardoned by the Amir. But in 
a March 21 interview with emboffs, he was clearly chastened 
by his sentence. He said that the three-year probation 
would silence him: "If I want to be safe, I have to stop 
writing," he said. And he bemoaned the ruling, which he 
said was not protecting religion, but rather censoring 
opinion. "For Kuwaitis, this is very dangerous, really," he 
said. In press interviews and a recent column, Al-Baghdadi 
mentioned the possibility of seeking asylum abroad because 
of the sentence, but disavowed this notion when meeting 
with emboffs, saying, "I think it's not right, if you don't 
have the courage to face them." 
 
One Columnist Down. Who's Next? 
------------------------------- 
 
7. (SBU) Al-Baghdadi expressed concerns that his sentence 
could be the first of many against Kuwait's vocal cadre of 
liberal columnists. Government officials called for press 
restraint and self-censorship on security issues in the 
aftermath of four fatal January shoot-outs between security 
forces and militants, all of which were widely reported in 
the press. Media contacts suggested that the government 
instructions, and meetings held by Prime Minister Shaykh 
Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah with newspaper editors, might be 
the start of a campaign by the country's leadership to 
curtail press freedom (REFTEL). Al-Baghdadi and fellow 
liberals such as Shamlan Al-Issa, Hassan Al-Issa, and Ali 
Al-Baghli, have loudly criticized Islamists, and the 
government's unwillingness to confront Islamists in such 
areas as extremist preaching in mosques and their influence 
on the curriculum. These writers have suggested that this 
indirectly led to violence. Al-Baghdadi speculated that 
cases might soon be filed against these writers. 
 
And The New Press Law Looms. 
---------------------------- 
 
8. (SBU) Private accusations from liberals that the 
leadership has been moving in a more despotic direction are 
typical, and must be taken with a grain of salt. In 
rhetorical gamesmanship, both liberals and Islamists 
portray themselves as put-upon, if not oppressed, and 
engaged in an uphill fight for the rights of Kuwaitis. But 
the concerns Al-Baghdadi expressed about the new draft 
Press and Publications Law currently before the National 
Assembly, which have been echoed by many media and 
government contacts, cannot be dismissed. The law would 
retain the right of any citizen to sue any writer for any 
perceived slight, (this is the provision that allowed two 
Islamists to bring a case against Al-Baghdadi for defaming 
Islam). It would increase the maximum penalty for such 
offenses from one year to ten, and would give the 
government much more leeway in shutting down newspapers. 
Al-Baghdadi expressed a commonly heard sentiment: "With the 
new law, it is hopeless. Really hopeless." 
 
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LEBARON