Kuwait falls back in the World Press Freedom Index

The 2014 World Press Freedom Index is out and it’s not good news. Even though Kuwait still leads the region in press freedom, Kuwait dropped down from 77th place all the way to 91. The reason?

In Kuwait, the authorities are cracking down on two sensitive subjects – the emir and religion. Two citizen-journalists, Badr Al-Rashidi and Ourance Al-Rashidi, were given long jail sentences for “insulting” the emir. They eventually received a royal pardon but, without reform of the law, there could be more convictions and there is no guarantee that the emir will be so benevolent with the next victims. A draconian bill was considered and then abandoned in April. It would have allowed the authorities to impose fines of up to 800,000 euros for criticizing the emir or the crown prince, and sentences of up to 10 years in prison for “insulting God, the Prophets of Islam, or the Prophet Mohamed’s wives or companions.”

Here is how Kuwait compares to our neighbors:

91 – Kuwait

96 – Israel

106 – Lebanon

113 – Qatar

118 – UAE

141 – Jordan

153 – Iraq

163 – Bahrain

164 – Saudi

173 – Iran

Check out the full list [Here]

Thanks yousefq8

The post Kuwait falls back in the World Press Freedom Index appeared first on 2:48AM - Everything Kuwait.

Reblog: http://ift.tt/1goDBnZ