On 4 September 2014, the Court of Misdemeanors in Kuwait sentenced human rights defender Abdulhakim Al-Fadhli to six month in prison after he was accused of assaulting a security officer. He was charged despite reliable medical reports which confirmed that Al-Fadhli had been injured as a result of being beaten by the very same security officer who initiated the case against him. According to reports received by the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) the court has rejected the request of the defense team to call witnesses. This sentence means that the possibility is very real that Al-Fadhli will be jailed at any moment.

Abdulhakim Al-Fadhli is a Bedoon human rights activist as well as being involved in monitoring human rights violations in Kuwait. He confirmed his intention to appeal the sentence at the Appeal Court of Misdemeanors.

For more information kindly see the following two links: https://www.gc4hr.org/news/view/706 and https://www.gc4hr.org/news/view/692.

The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) expresses its concern at the sentencing of Abdulhakim Al-Fadhli in a court that lacked international standards of fair trial and due process. The GCHR believes that the human rights defender has been targeted due to his peaceful and legitimate human rights activities, in particular defending the civil rights of the Bedoon community in Kuwait.

The GCHR urges authorities in Kuwait to:

1. Revoke the six-month prison sentence against Abdulhakim Al-Fadhli and drop any charge against him as he is solely targeted due to his work in the field of human rights;

1. Immediately stop targeting human rights violations monitors while performing their peaceful and legitimate work.

1. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Kuwait are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions including judicial harassment. 

The GCHR respectfully reminds you that the United Nations Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, adopted by consensus by the UN General Assembly on 9 December 1998, recognises the legitimacy of the activities of human rights defenders, their right to freedom of association and to carry out their activities without fear of reprisals. We would particularly draw your attention Article 6 (c): “Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others: (c) To study, discuss, form and hold opinions on the observance, both in law and in practice, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and, through these and other appropriate means, to draw public attention to those matters“, and to Article 12 (2): “The State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present declaration.”