GCHR calls on authorities to stop targeting Al-Khalidi immediately and to drop all sentences issued against him.
This statement was originally published on gc4hr.org on 30 January 2024.
Once again, the State Security Criminal Court in Kuwait issued a three-year prison sentence in a new case against blogger Salman Al-Khalidi as part of the ongoing targeting he faces due to his peaceful human rights activity. He has to serve 21 years in prison if he returns to Kuwait.
On 23 January 2024, the State Security Criminal Court sentenced Al-Khalidi to three years in prison with labor. The ruling was issued after he was convicted of the following charges mentioned in the court’s verdict, a copy of which was provided to the Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR): “insulting publicly and in a public place by writing about the head of the state, and intentional misuse of cell phone in writing and publishing.”
Informed local sources confirmed that the State Security Apparatus is working to intimidate and harass Al-Khalidi by creating new cases against him that include the same charges but related to other social media posts, including the same content as the previous tweets that were used as material evidence according to which the previous rulings were issued.
The trial took place in absentia, and the court, as happened in previous trials, did not allow him to appoint a lawyer and requested his presence in person, which would have exposed him to clear and imminent danger.
These two charges for which he was convicted are similar to those he faced in previous cases, when the State Security Criminal Court issued its ruling on 26 September 2023, sentencing him to a period of three years’ imprisonment; and issued a subsequent ruling on 19 November 2023, with an effective five-year prison term, which was also documented by GCHR.
These sentences are all linked to alleged charges relating to his peaceful use of his account on X (formerly Twitter) to express his personal opinions on public issues of concern to citizens in Kuwait, and his defense of the civil and humanitarian rights of the Bedoon community, as well as of prisoners of conscience, in addition to his work as a founding member of the Kuwaiti Refugee Association. The headquarters of the Association, which was established in August 2022, are in the United Kingdom, where it holds activities.
GCHR documented previous cases against Al-Khalidi, including when he was sentenced to five years in prison with hard labour on 15 May 2023. He was also sentenced to five years in prison with labour on 6 June 2022, and was pardoned. In this case, his sentence was overturned by a decision from the Emir of Kuwait on 18 January 2023. The authorities then canceled the Emir’s pardon on 13 December 2023. According to the rulings documented by GCHR, the number of years he must spend in prison has reached 21 years.
Al-Khalidi stated to GCHR the following, “I will continue my peaceful work in the field of human rights and I will not be intimidated by these sham trials that lack the minimum standards necessary for a fair trial and due process. Likewise, I will not be intimidated by their attempts, as I learned from some reliable sources, to use Interpol to force me to return to Kuwait.”
GCHR condemns the new three-year prison sentence issued against blogger Salman Al-Khalidi, which clearly and explicitly violates his legitimate right to freedom of expression on the Internet, freedom of peaceful assembly, and freedom to belong and work in civil society organisations. GCHR calls on the authorities in Kuwait, especially the State Security Service, to stop targeting him immediately and to drop all sentences issued against him.
GCHR calls on the competent British authorities to provide him with full protection as a political refugee in accordance with the 1952 Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the status of refugees, and not to allow the Kuwaiti authorities to exploit the Interpol red notice system in order to deport him from Britain.
