US embassy cable - 03KUWAIT2293

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 002293 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/FO, NEA/PPD, NEA/ARP, INR/NESA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/28/2013 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, PINR, KU 
SUBJECT: (C) GOK PUSH TO AMEND PRESS LAW:  CAUSE FOR CONCERN 
 
 
Classified By: (U) AMBASSADOR RICHARD H. JONES; REASON: 1.6X6 
 
1.  (C) SUMMARY:  The GOK is making a strong push to gain 
passage of a new press law before the  National Assembly 
session ends June 10.  The bill contains a number of 
provisions that would restrict current press freedoms. 
Ruling-family politics appear to be a factor in this latest 
push to amend the press law -- one of several since 
Liberation.  In what may be a sign that the GOK is willing to 
play hardball, on May 19 it froze the assets of Shaykh Ali 
al-Khalifa al-Sabah, principal owner of the newspaper whose 
publisher most vociferously opposes the draft law, ostensibly 
because it just now decided there are serious allegations 
against Shaykh Ali that need to be investigated in relation 
to a scandal that broke ten years ago over events dating back 
to 1984.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2.  (C) Local media have carried a number of articles in 
recent weeks regarding the GOK's draft Press and Publications 
Law.  In a meeting with PAO, PAS FSN and PolChief May 20, 
Mohammed al-Jassem (protect throughout), publisher and 
editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper Al-Watan, said that 
he, as a trained lawyer, has taken the lead in critiquing the 
bill, drawing up a memorandum to the Minister of Information 
that was signed by all the editors-in-chief of Kuwaiti 
dailies in January 2002.  Key elements: 
 
- The Prosecutor General would have the power to suspend 
publication of a newspaper without filing criminal charges, 
if he determined that it published anything against Kuwait's 
interest or worked for another country.  (Al-Jassem commented 
that these criteria are so vague they could encompass 
anything the Government wanted them to.  He said the current 
law requires a decision by the entire Council of Ministers in 
order to close down a newspaper.) 
 
- The Prosecutor General could veto any advertisements, which 
would put the financial health of newspapers at his mercy. 
 
- The Minister of Information would have the power to close 
down printing presses. 
 
- Publication of any article would be subject to prior 
censorship. 
 
- Publication of the proceedings of closed sessions of 
parliament or the Cabinet would be prohibited.  (Al-Jassem 
said this provision is in response to court rulings affirming 
the right and responsibility of the press to report on closed 
sessions.) 
 
- The ban on offending Islam, God or the Prophet Mohammed 
would be reinforced with stiffer fines and expanded to 
encompass offenses to "the foundations of doctrine" (a 
worrisomely vague term, in Al-Jassem's estimation, who noted 
that the editors-in-chief's joint memorandum called for 
eliminating "hisba," the right of any Muslim to file criminal 
charges against anyone who defames Islam). 
 
- Offending a judicial person would be banned. 
 
- The editor-in-chief as well as the author of an offending 
article would both be liable, even if the editor-in-chief was 
out of the country at the time the article was published. 
(Al-Jassem said this provision is based on the principle of 
"presumed responsibility" which has been found 
unconstitutional in Egypt.) 
 
- The bill recommends that no new licenses be issued for 
newspapers.  (Al-Jassem said his newspaper supports the 
principle of competition, therefore it opposes this 
provision.) 
 
- A recent addition to the draft would prohibit press 
"campaigns," which could mean as few as two or three articles 
on a given subject.  (Al-Jassem gave an example:  one article 
criticizing Syria would be acceptable, but two would be a 
campaign.  He said this provision is a reaction to what the 
GOK perceives as US media campaigns against Saudi Arabia.) 
 
- On the positive side, the bill would eliminate jail 
sentences for press offenses (except for affronts to 
religion), but it would increase fines to as much as 10,000 
Kuwaiti Dinars (approx. USD 33,000). 
 
3.  (C) Al-Jassem summarized the saga of the Press and 
Publications bill as follows:  it is essentially the same 
text that every Information Minister since Liberation has 
tried to push through the National Assembly.  The current 
Information Minister, the young Shaykh Ahmed al-Fahd al-Ahmed 
al-Sabah, whose main interest was sports until he was 
handpicked by his uncle First Deputy Prime Minister and 
Foreign Minister Shaykh Sabah al-Ahmed, is now trying to 
prove his worth to Shaykh Sabah, "an enemy of the press," in 
hopes of gaining a more prestigious portfolio in the Cabinet 
reshuffle that will follow the July 5 National Assembly 
general election.  Faced with the united opposition of the 
editors, Shaykh Ahmed went directly to the Kuwait Journalists 
Association to obtain support, and misled the National 
Assembly's Committee on Education, Culture and Guidance into 
believing the bill enjoyed broad acceptance.  When disabused 
by the editors, the Committee agreed to freeze consideration 
of the bill until after the general election.  Now, to 
everyone's surprise, the GOK is making a fresh push to gain 
passage, even though there are only four more days of 
scheduled sessions on the National Assembly's calendar before 
it adjourns for the elections.  Al-Watan is putting editorial 
pressure on key MPs to try to prevent the bill from passing. 
Al-Jassem thought he would succeed in blocking the GOK, 
because the MPs know his newspaper could "destroy" them if 
they abet the regime's attempt to muzzle the press. 
 
4.  (C) In response to Emboffs' questioning, Al-Jassem gave 
details of GOK action taken the previous day against the 
owner of Al-Watan, Shaykh Ali al-Khalifa al-Sabah, who was 
Minister of Oil in 1990.  He said Shaykh Ali was banned from 
traveling outside the country (although he is already in the 
US to attend his son's graduation), his personal assets were 
frozen (not including Al-Watan, which he owns indirectly in 
conjunction with 35 partners), and two men were appointed to 
manage his assets.  All these actions were taken because the 
GOK just now decided that serious allegations exist against 
Shaykh Ali that require investigation, in connection with the 
so-called "oil tankers case" which erupted in 1993 regarding 
events dating back to 1984.  Al-Jassem was 
uncharacteristically reluctant to accuse the GOK of trying to 
get at him through Shaykh Ali, but he allowed that the timing 
was remarkably coincidental after all these years.  He 
further claimed that a ten-year statute of limitations 
applies.  (Comment:  To be fair to the GOK this case was 
given new impetus lately with the extradition of a key figure 
in the investigation from the U.S.) 
 
5.  (C) Throughout the conversation with Emboffs, Al-Jassem 
portrayed himself as the only person in Kuwait who dares 
speak scathingly of Shaykh Sabah to his face.  He claimed to 
have told the 74-year-old de facto ruler that he was "too 
old" to be governing the country. He also claimed to have 
told Shaykh Ahmed al-Fahd that he had a great future as one 
of the few younger-generation members of the ruling family 
who could revitalize Kuwait, but that he was throwing away 
his future by tying himself to Shaykh Sabah, whose enmity for 
the media and for democracy would destroy the country. 
Almost as an aside, Al-Jassem remarked that Al-Watan was the 
only newspaper that supported last summer's parliamentary 
"grilling" of then-Finance Minister Yusuf al-Ibrahim. 
(COMMENT:  If successful, the grilling could have forced 
al-Ibrahim out of office, or even brought down the entire 
Cabinet.  In the event, al-Ibrahim survived the vote of 
no-confidence, though he has since resigned.  END COMMENT.) 
 
6.  (C) COMMENT:  There is obviously a great deal of personal 
enmity in Al-Jassem's account, but the specific elements he 
cited as points of concern regarding the draft Press and 
Publications Law track with our own understanding.  He also 
shared copies of matrices showing differences between the 
current law and the bill, and between the bill and the 
parliamentary committee's position.  (We have no reason to 
doubt the veracity of this analysis.)    Without getting 
embroiled in local politics, we will endeavor to find ways to 
remind the GOK of the centrality of press freedom in our 
values and in US foreign policy.  If nothing else this will 
put the lie to any malicious allegations of U.S. acceptance 
of or complicity in this misbegotten GOK initiative. 
JONES