The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) continues to raise the alarm for the persecution by the Kuwaiti authorities of human rights activists and former members of the Kuwaiti National Assembly. Local and international observers have witnessed ongoing attempts by the authorities to erase democratic institutions and to silence dissent.
A former member, Bader Al-Dahoum, was sentenced on 25 September 2025 to one year with suspension and a fine of 5000 Kuwaiti Dinars for the charge of insulting the constitutional judges during a speaking event. He was also ordered to “commit to good standards of conduct” for the next three years. The order reflects how the authorities use legal punishment to intimidate and silence critics.
This has become a pattern of the new Kuwaiti government to target specific members of the society and shield itself from any accountability while consolidating all the authority and increasing the violations. It is happening, unfortunately, with the support of the judiciary.
The last two years witnessed a serious deterioration of democratic reforms and advancement that took place in the past decades. GCHR has also reported on the persecution by authorities of several former members of the National Assembly for raising public concerns, especially amid wide scale violations of stripping thousands of Kuwaiti from their acquired nationality. Since the dissolution of the Kuwaiti National Assembly in May 2024 a trend of increasing targeting of its members and various activists was documented.
On 20 September 2025, Dr. Jinan Bushehri, another former member of the National Assembly, posted on X a statement that indicated that a Minister of State has erased the most important website for the Archive of the Kuwaiti National Assembly. She also indicated that the Minister of Education is denying the students from studying the value of the National Assembly and its contribution to the Kuwaiti people. She stated that differences with members of the National Assembly in the past does not mean the erasure of this institution from the memory of this society and the generations to come.
Recommendations
GCHR Calls on the Kuwaiti authorities to:
- Stop the persecution and legal harassment of the human rights activists and former members of the Kuwaiti National Assembly and protect their right to freedom expression;
- Drop the unlawful charges against the former members of the National Assembly and allow them full autonomy and mobility;
- Reinstating the National Assembly to perform its assigned role, and allowing transparent and free elections to be held as soon as possible, in accordance with the Kuwaiti Constitution; and
- Hold officials in the government accountable for violating the Kuwaiti Constitution and the International Conventions and Standards which Kuwait has joined.
