UA: 134/15 Index: MDE 17/1872/2015 Kuwait
Date: 15 June 2015
URGENT ACTION
EX-MP ARRESTED FOR CRITICAL SPEECH
Former Kuwaiti MP Musallam al-Barrak was arrested on 13 June to serve a two-year prison
sentence on charges relating to a speech he had made in October 2012. He is a prisoner of
conscience.
Former Kuwaiti parliamentarian Musallam al-Barrak was arrested in the early hours of 13 June. He had handed himself
over to the State Security forces following a dinner party, to serve a two-year sentence that had been upheld on 18 May
by the Court of Cassation. He was later transferred to the Central Prison where after a medical check he was put into
solitary confinement in the prison’s Block 2, where drug offenders and people sentenced to death are held. Musallam alBarrak went on hunger strike in protest, but abandoned it after 24 hours, when he was moved to the section of the prison
where state security prisoners are held.
Musallam al-Barrak had addressed a public gathering on 15 October 2012, in Erada Square, adjacent to Kuwait’s
parliament, speaking out against government “time-wasting and the squandering of resources” and criticized the Amir of
Kuwait. He was arrested on 29 October and released on bail four days later, amid nationwide protests. On 15 April 2013,
a lower Criminal Court sentenced him to five years in prison in connection with his speech. He remained on bail pending
his appeal. On 22 February 2015, an appeal court reduced the sentence to two years.
Amnesty International believes that Musallam al-Barrak’s speech did not incite violence or hatred and that he was
peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression.
Please write immediately in Arabic, English or your own language:
 Calling on the Kuwaiti authorities to release Musallam al-Barrak immediately and unconditionally and quash his
conviction, as he has been jailed solely for legitimately exercising his right to freedom of expression;
 Urging them to uphold the right to freedom of expression and repeal laws that criminalize the peaceful exercise of the
rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 27 JULY 2015 TO:
Amir of the State of Kuwait
His Highness Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad alJaber Al Sabah
Al Diwan Al Amiri, P.O. Box: 1,
al-Safat 13001, Kuwait
Fax: 011 965 2243 0559
Email: amirsoffice@da.gov.kw
Salutation: Your Highness
First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister
of the Interior
His Excellency Sheikh Mohammed Khaled
Al-Hamad Al-Sabah
Ministry of the Interior
P.O. Box 12500, Shamiya 71655
Kuwait
Fax: 011 965 2249 6570
E-mail: info@moi.gov.kw
Salutation: Your Excellency
And copies to:
Chairperson
Parliamentary Human Rights Committee
National Assembly
P.O. Box 716, al-Safat 13008, Kuwait
Fax: 011 965 2243 6331
Email: ipu-grp@kna.kw (In subject line:
FAO Chairperson of the Parliamentary
Human Rights Committee
Also send copies to:
H.E. Ambassador Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Embassy of the State of Kuwait
2940 Tilden St.NW., Washington DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 364 2868 I Phone: 1 202 966 0702 I Email: consulate@kuwaitembassy.us
Please let us know if you took action so that we can track our impact! EITHER send a short email to uan@aiusa.org with UA 134/15 in the
subject line, and include in the body of the email the number of letters and/or emails you sent, OR fill out this short online form to let us know
how you took action. Thank you for taking action! Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Office if taking action after the appeals date.
URGENT ACTION
EX-MP ARRESTED FOR CRITICAL SPEECH
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Since 2011 the Kuwaiti authorities have increased restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly and imprisoned
critics who express dissent.
Musallam al-Barrak, a member of parliament from 1996 until 2012, has been an outspoken critic of the government over
many years during which he has accused the authorities, including the judiciary, of a lack of public transparency and
criticized government policies. He has been prosecuted many times for his speeches - in April 2014 alone, when
interviewed by Amnesty International, he was facing prosecution in 94 separate criminal cases, based mostly on his
exercise of his right to freedom of expression. Despite his acquittal in some cases, the number of charges and
prosecutions instituted against him by the Kuwaiti authorities appears to be politically motivated, aimed at intimidating,
harassing and deterring him from continuing to criticize the government and express dissent.
Musallam al-Barrak was arrested on 29 October 2012. He was deemed to have “insulted” and "undermined the status of
the Amir". The authorities released him on bail four days later, amid nationwide protests. A lower Criminal Court handed
down a five-year prison sentence on 15 April 2013, in connection with his speech. He was free on bail pending his appeal.
On 17 April 2013, a solidarity rally was held at his family home. Some 67 people recited the speech before those
assembled and were dispersed. The 67 were later prosecuted.
An appeal court reduced Musallam al-Barrak’s sentence on 22 February 2015 to two years. He handed himself over to the
authorities on 1 March and was released on bail on 20 April pending the Cassation Court’s verdict.
Kuwait is a state party to key international human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). These covenants
include the rights to freedom of expression, including “freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all
kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his
choice,” set out in ICCPR Article 19; and freedom of assembly and freedom of association, set out respectively in Articles
21 and 22 of the ICCPR.
Name: Musallam al-Barrak (m)
Issues: Prisoner of conscience, Freedom of expression, Legal concern
UA: 134/15
Issue Date: 15 June 2015
Country: Kuwait
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