New York, N.Y., June 25, 1998--The
Committee to Protect Journalists today strongly protested
Kuwait's sentencing of journalists Muhammad Jasim al-Saqr
and Ibrahim Marzouk to six months in prison because of a
joke published in Al-Qabas, a leading daily newspaper.
A Kuwaiti criminal court on Wednesday handed down the
sentences to al-Saqr, editor in chief, and, Marzouk, a
freelance journalist based in Egypt who wrote the
four-line item that ran on the entertainment page in
Al-Qabas on January 5. The item presented a teacher
asking a student, "Why did God expel Adam and Eve from
paradise?" and the student's reply, "Because they did not
pay the rent."
Al-Saqr and Marzouk, who was sentenced in absentia,
were charged with "insulting the essence of the Divine
Being" in a legal suit initiated by the Ministry of
Information. In addition to the six-months prison term,
the court ordered a week-long closure of Al-Qabas.
In a strongly worded letter sent today to Crown Prince
Sheikh Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah, Prime Minister of
Kuwait, the New York-based independent press freedom
organization urged him "to examine all possible legal
options to rescind the convictions" and the suspension of
Al-Qabas and ensure that the Kuwait judiciary abide by
international standards for free expression.
"We view the criminal prosecution and conviction of
Muhammad al-Saqr and Ibrahim Marzouk and the suspension
of Al-Qabas as flagrant violations of the internationally
recognized right of journalists to report news and
opinion freely," wrote CPJ's executive director, William
A. Orme, Jr. "CPJ deplores the criminal prosecution of
journalists in response to their published work. Such
measures run counter to universally accepted norms for
press freedom and inhibit the ability of the press to
work freely."
Muhammad al-Saqr, editor of Al-Qabas ("The Firebrand")
since 1983, received CPJ's International Press Freedom
Award in 1992 for courageous reporting on political and
human rights issues in the face of government threats of
censorship and prosecution
