Posted: January 19, 2005
Adil Aidan, Al-Arabiya
HARASSED, IMPRISONED
Aidan, a correspondent for news channel Al-Arabiya, was arrested after the station aired a disputed report of clashes between Kuwaiti government forces and militants.
Al-Arabiya News Director Nakhle al-Haj said Kuwaiti authorities did not provide a reason for the arrest, but he and Kuwaiti journalists told CPJ that it stemmed from an on-air news report in which Aidan, citing a Kuwaiti security source, said that militants had clashed with security forces.
The government later denied the report, and the station reported the denial, said al-Haj, speaking from the satellite channel's Dubai headquarters.
Kuwaiti journalists staged a protest outside the Ministry of the Interior on January 6, calling for Aidan's release.
Aidan was released on January 8 on bail and faces possible trial.
FEBRUARY 7, 2005
Posted: February 11, 2005
All newspapers
THREATENED
In a meeting with leading Kuwaiti editors, Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah warned that the Cabinet would suspend or permanently close newspapers that published information about ongoing state investigations of terrorism suspects or unauthorized information about the country's security situation, according to international and local press reports, as well as Kuwaiti journalists who spoke with CPJ.
"What a journalist considers a journalistic scoop could be, from a security perspective, harmful to the safety of security forces or the ongoing investigations with the detained, and help the terrorists deflect the security forces pursuing them," the daily Al-Watan quoted you as saying.
One editor who attended the meeting said editors were also advised that their reporting on the state's battle with militants should conform with official information from the Ministry of Interior. He said officials were prepared to carry out the closures in accordance with Article 35 of the Press Law, which empowers authorities to suspend or close publications.
Kuwaiti journalists told CPJ that government officials claimed that some press reports about militant suspects provided details, such as the type of car suspects were driving, that helped them elude capture. Another report about an alleged militant threat to attack Shiite religious sites also angered officials.
Journalists also suspect that several columns recently published in the daily Al-Qabas harshly criticizing the government for allegedly abetting religious extremism have also upset authorities.