Since the dissolution of the Kuwaiti National Assembly in May 2024, authorities in Kuwait have continued their systematic repression of public freedoms and the targeting of dissidents, political opponents, and human rights defenders. This comes at a time when the country is witnessing widespread human rights violations, including the arbitrary stripping of tens of thousands of Kuwaitis of their acquired citizenship, as well as the targeting of former members of parliament, human rights defenders, political activists, and their families.
On 25 February 2026, at midnight, a large number of officers from the General Department of Criminal Investigation, travelling in 17 vehicles, arrested Nayef Rakhees Dhahi Al-Fadhli, 70, as he arrived home. They took him away in handcuffs. Half an hour later, they returned to his home, stormed the premises, terrorised his family, and searched their phones, including those of their domestic worker.
They also searched his bedroom, opened his closet, and removed a pistol and ammunition, which Al-Fadhli denied belonging to him when questioned. An hour later, they left the house, smashed the security cameras, and confiscated the recording device.
Al-Fadhli, 70, is the father of political dissident Fawaz Al-Kathiri, who is active in exile and uses his X account to express his political views on the situation in his country.
On 27 February 2026, Al-Kathiri posted the following on his X account: “In an unforgettable scene, an elderly sheikh, over seventy years old, stood with his head uncovered, his appearance broken, not because he had committed a crime, but because he had become a target of an authority that, unable to harm the son, decided to take revenge on the father!!”
The Ministry of Interior had announced on its X account: “The Criminal Security Sector arrested a person in possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition, and he was referred to the competent authorities.”
Al-Kathiri told the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR), “The reason my father is being targeted is the recent issuance of the new Nationality Law, one of whose articles stipulates the revocation of citizenship from anyone who commits a crime. I believe this is what the authorities are using to target him on this fabricated charge.”
GCHR condemns the inhumane targeting of citizen Nayef Al-Fadhli and the publication of his image with his hands bound in a manner intended to defame him and undermine his dignity, which violates the country’s laws and human rights principles. GCHR believes that the sole reason for targeting him is his son Al-Kathiri’s opposition to the current government.
GCHR calls on the Kuwaiti authorities to immediately and unconditionally release citizen Nayef Al-Fadhli, to cease targeting dissidents, political opponents, and human rights defenders, and to respect the civil and human rights of all citizens.
