A few days ago, the Kuwaiti parliament approved amendments to the Press and Publication Law No. 3 of 2006, the most prominent of which was the abolition of prior censorship on imported books and making the importer responsible in case of violating any provision of the law.

The amendment aimed to grant greater freedom to publications and the expression of opinion, in fulfillment of Article 37 of the Kuwaiti Constitution, which states that “freedom of the press, printing and publishing is guaranteed according to the terms and conditions set forth by the law,” and this is the article that the sponsors of the amendments saw that the law, in its previous state, was restricting it through censorship Previous.

The seventh article of the law, before its amendment, stipulated the permissibility of entering, circulating or selling publications coming from abroad after being approved by the competent ministry, after verifying that they did not contain anything that is prohibited from publication.

The amendment of that article was to stipulate that “it is not permissible to enter, circulate or sell publications coming from abroad except after the importer notifies the ministry of his name, address and name of the author and the number of imported copies. The importer is considered responsible in case of violating any of the provisions of this law and he is punished according to its provisions.”

Remove censorship

According to MP Khaled Al-Shatti, who is one of the sponsors of the proposal on the recent amendments, the previous situation required publishers to hand over a copy of the book to the Ministry of Information first, which in turn forms a committee to review it, and then issue its report that decides whether to enter the country or prevent it.

The ban took place in the past, famous novels (Al-Jazeera)

This measure resulted in the banning of thousands of books, including books that were circulating in the neighboring countries of the Gulf, and MP Khaled Al-Shatti stated in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net that, in a parliamentary question two years ago, he asked the Minister of Information for a statement of the addresses that were prevented during the five years preceding the question, and the reasons for preventing Each book and the names of the members of the committees and their scientific certificates.

Al-Shatti says, "I was surprised that the response to my question came in the form of many cartons that contained the cover page of each book that was banned and about 6 pages of it. After sorting through a committee that was formed, it became clear to us that the total number of books that were banned during the five years in question was 4350. A title which is what created our conviction that the original was forbidding and not permitting. "

With the approval of the new text, the censorship of publications has become subsequent through the judiciary, as it allows those affected by the existence of a particular book, whether it is a government agency or an ordinary citizen, to file a complaint that includes justifications for his damage to the content of the book, so that the judgment in the case becomes the jurisdiction of the judiciary and not a committee affiliated with the Ministry of Information as the situation in the previous.

Prohibitions

In its current form, the law includes a list of prohibitions that the victim can rely upon when resorting to the judiciary, including “contempt or contempt of the state’s constitution, insulting judges, insulting public morals, incitement to public order, affecting the national currency, or compromising the dignity of persons.”

MP Khaled Al-Shatti told Al-Jazeera Net that 4350 addresses were banned from entering Kuwait within 5 years (Al-Jazeera)

Those interested unanimously agree that the joy of approving the amendment was incomplete, given that the principle is to completely abolish the censorship of thought and creativity, as well as abolish the imprisonment of the author.

According to novelist Khaled Al-Nasrallah, what has been achieved is a deficient step, but it remains the best possible thing, given the approaching end of the current session and the atmosphere of preparation for the new elections, indicating that most of those concerned are waiting for the executive regulations of the law in order to be able to evaluate it accurately.

Al-Nasr God added to Al-Jazeera Net that "the masses of writers in Kuwait were aspiring to abolish all forms of censorship that were no longer in line with the nature of the time in which we live, as the prohibition was no longer acceptable at a time when the book could be obtained via express mail or through the Internet," indicating Some writers have instituted lawsuits to cancel the Ministry of Information’s decision to prevent the circulation of their works, which is what happened, for example, in the novel “Mice of My Mother Hessa” by Saud Al-Sanussi, as well as the novel “The Smell of Tango” by Dala Al-Mufti.

Half a success

MP Khaled Al-Shatti affirms that what was finally approved did not include all of what was included in the proposal, which was presented in an integrated manner to enhance the freedom of printing and publishing, which means that the supporters of the Freedom Movement won half the battle by making the original issue of the introduction of books is permitting, and the exception is prevention.

Part of the activities of the previous Kuwait Book Fair (Al-Jazeera)

Among the proposals that were rejected were that violating the provisions of the law be punished with a fine that starts from 300 dinars (about 980 dollars) and reaches a maximum of 10 thousand dinars (about 33 thousand dollars), while the current text in the law includes a fine without prejudice to any penalty The most severe is stipulated in another law, which is the text that preserves the imprisonment penalty for publishing crimes.

In addition to the rejection of the previous amendment, the vote in Parliament also dropped another amendment which stipulated that “there is no crime if a research in a religion or a religious sect, or a lecture, an article, or a scientific or intellectual book is broadcast in a calm and balanced manner free of provocative words”, which is the text that approved It only has 10 deputies and the rest rejected it.