CAIRO: Regional human rights organizations expressed concern over Kuwait's recently passed law that mandates the death penalty to anyone who criticizes God or Islam's prophet Mohammed or his wives. The Kuwaiti National Assembly passed the law last Thursday, April 12, confirming the capital punishment to those insulting or criticizing God, the prophet or any of his wives, specially from the Muslim community in the country. A number of assembly members asked for consultation with the Ministry of Justice and Muslim scholars over the law first, before implementing it. “This law pulls freedom of opinion and expression a hundred steps back in Kuwait, as it will restrict freedom of expression significantly, and will make all citizens threatened with death, based on their opinions and what they write, as on the other hand the law can be used by authorities to get rid of opponents, as it's a vague expansion of the use of the words, such as daring or abuse,” said the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) on Thursday. The Egypt-based network confirmed that a number of Kuwaiti citizens are currently on trial for “insulting the Prophet” and feared that they could be facing the death penalty if the law is implemented. Kuwaiti writer Mohammed Al Mollif was sentenced to seven years in prison and a fine of $18,000 on April 9th for “abusing the doctrine of Shia” by writing comments about the prophet and his wives on his personal Twitter account. In his case the court recently ruled to transfer the charge from a misdemeanor to a felony in a process aiming escalating the punishment. In the Muslim country about half a million non-Muslims live in Kuwait for work purposes.
