KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait’s top court yesterday upheld as constitutional a disputed law under which people who “offend” the emir can be jailed for up to five years. The constitutional court rejected challenges by lawyers defending activists to demand the penal code provision be abolished for allegedly suppressing freedom of speech guaranteed under the basic law.
Emir H H Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah is described as “immune and inviolable” in the Kuwaiti constitution.
“It is not acceptable that the highest position in the country should be treated like other individuals,” the constitutional court said in a written verdict.
The court, whose rulings are final, added that failure to protect the Kuwaiti ruler could threaten the unity of the oil-rich Gulf state, its internal security and the regime itself.
Courts have used the provision, known as Article 25, to send dozens of opposition MPs, activists and tweeters to jail for insulting the emir and undermining both him and the authorities.
In April, Human Rights Watch called on Kuwait to scrap the article and stop considering “offending the emir” as a crime.
The New York-based watchdog said criminal prosecution for peaceful criticism of public officials violates international standards for human rights.
Tehran warns of rising Aids cases
TEHRAN: The number of Aids cases in Iran has soared over the past two decades, Health Minister Hassan Hashemi said yesterday, warning the Islamic republic can not ignore the problem.“This disease has increased by 80 percent annually, which is much higher than the rise in inflation or rents,” he said, quoted in Shahrvand newspaper.
Hashemi criticised Iran’s hush-hush policy on Aids. Extra-marital sex is strictly prohibited in Iran, punishable by whipping and imprisonment. “The pattern has changed from transmission of the infection through drug injection to unprotected sexual intercourse,” Hashemi said.
“We need to find new ways to fight Aids and we should not be afraid to admit this is a problem of our society,” said the minister.
“There was a time that Aids was used ... to mock other societies, but now the entire world is struggling with this disease and we are no exception,” Hashemi said. Ali Sayyari, Iran’s deputy health minister, blamed the phenomenon on satellite TV programmes, gyms and beauty salons, describing them as a “triangle of death”. According to UN statistics, the number of people in Iran living with HIV reached 71,000 in 2012.
Turkey probes ‘kidney sale’ ads
ISTANBUL: Turkish police have launched an investigation into online adverts posted by people allegedly so desperate for money they are offering to sell their kidneys, local media reported yesterday.
The adverts were apparently linked to an organ trafficking ring which had been carrying out illegal kidney removals and transplants in Turkey as well as Egypt, India, Iran and Iraq and was busted by police in October.
Sellers were asking as much as 150,000 Turkish lira ($73,000 ) for a kidney, often boasting about their good state of health.
“I want to sell my kidney urgently because I am in debt,” said one Internet advert published by the Haberturk newspaper in which the seller declared: “I have never tasted alcohol in my life.”
“I am selling my liver, kidney and bone marrow,” said another. “I work out and walk every day.”
Leaders of the trafficking ring took up to $35,000 (26,000 euros) from organ recipients, Haberturk said. According to health ministry figures, about 20,000 patients in Turkey were awaiting kidney transplants last year, while about 2,000 were waiting for livers.
Agencies
