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Al-Ahram Weekly 14 - 20 October 1999 Issue No. 451 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 14 - 20 October 1999 Issue No. 451
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Books Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Pluralism proscribed
By Rasha SaadThe arrest of Ahmed Baghdadi, head of Kuwait University's Political Science Department and a newspaper columnist, on blasphemy charges has triggered a war of words between the country's influential Islamists and liberals. While liberals criticised the sentence for being an alleged infringement of human rights and described Baghdadi as the country's first "prisoner of conscience," Islamists hailed the move and praised the judiciary's ruling.
Baghdadi was jailed on Tuesday to serve a one-month sentence for remarks allegedly made in 1996 concerning the Prophet Mohamed. A criminal court had initially handed down a 100-dinar ($330) fine and a six-month suspended sentence on Baghdadi, but the Appeals Court, whose judgments cannot be contested, later sentenced him to jail. Kuwaiti newspapers have blamed an antiquated 1961 press and publications law for the sentence.
Teaching colleague and fellow newspaper columnist Shamlan Al-Eissa, who was himself interrogated over an article in which he had challenged Islamic law, said he opposed Baghdadi's sentence. "If this is done, Kuwait will face a dim future, dominated by extremist religious parties who impose their laws on those who have contrasting opinions," he said.
Kuwaiti professional societies and liberal political groups also condemned the verdict. Liberals, who staged a surprise comeback in the country's July parliamentary elections, have called on Kuwait's ruler, Emir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, to order Baghdadi's release and to suspend the sentence. The Federation of Arab Journalists has made the same call, demanding the amendment of legislation across the Arab world that restricts freedoms and the cancellation of laws that allow journalists to be imprisoned for 'crimes of opinion.'
In protest against his arrest, Baghdadi, who already suffers from heart problems, went on hunger strike for three days before being transferred to hospital. He has said that he intends to leave Kuwait after completing the sentence.
Muslim preachers meanwhile have lambasted liberals for "attacking Islam and its symbols in the name of freedom of expression." The Salafi movement and the Muslim Brotherhood, the two main Sunni groups in Kuwait, said they opposed Baghdadi's release. "We thank the judiciary, whose judgment has reconfirmed the importance of the respect for religion and for the foundations of Islam," the groups said in a joint statement.
The clash between Islamists and liberals has also been played out on the Kuwait University campus. University professors held a rally in support of Baghdadi and pledged to cancel classes on a regular basis until he was released, while the majority of the University's students did not respond to the strike. The National Federation of Kuwaiti students is headed by Islamists.
According to observers, the decision, and any possible modification to it, sets an important precedent for how the state deals with 'prisoners of conscience'. Two female writers, Laila Othman and Alia Sho'eib, are due to stand trial in Kuwait on 10 November for allegedly insulting Islam in their novels.
Conflict between the Islamist sympathisers and liberal currents in the country has also developed in recent weeks after the Interior Ministry launched a major crackdown on parties where unmarried men and women could mix, dance, and allegedly consume alcohol, which is banned. Late-night arrests of more than 150 women, including some accused of prostitution, has alarmed some liberals and has prompted the Kuwaiti press to suggest that the country was in danger of becoming a "police state."
Both Islamists and moderates are represented in the country's elected parliament, and some observers expect tensions when it reconvenes in late October after a long summer recess. Islamist-oriented MPs have said that they are drafting legislation that would establish an "Ethics Committee", whose main concern would be to "defend the beliefs of the nation".
