Kuwait: HRW Calls for Release of Blogger

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called for the release of Kuwaiti writer Mohammad al-Jasim. The Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, Sarah Leah Whitson, called al-Jasim’s conviction “‘one more assault on freedom of expression in Kuwait,’” adding that the decision “‘flies in the face of human rights law, which prohibits governments from sending people to jail for nonviolent opinions.’” Al-Jasim was convicted of “publication of [a] statement causing damage to another person’s honor,” when he published an article on his blog accusing a businessman close to the Kuwaiti prime minister of “supporting Iranian intelligence interests.”