Blogger Salman Al-Khalidi is facing a new trial on trumped-up charges related to his peaceful human rights activities, as part of the ongoing targeting he is being subjected to by the authorities in Kuwait, most notably the State Security Apparatus.
On 26 September 2023, the State Security Criminal Court will hold a hearing to issue its ruling on the case filed against Al-Khalidi by the State Security Apparatus. The case includes several charges brought against him, including insulting the judiciary, insulting the ruler of the emirate, which means the Emir of Kuwait himself, misusing the phone, and cooperating with international human rights organisations.
The court did not allow him to appoint a lawyer and requested his presence in court, which would have exposed him to imminent danger. His trial proceedings also included one previous hearing, which was held on 05 September 2023. The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) protests that this speedy trial lacks the minimum international standards for fair trial and due procedures.
The State Security Apparatus filed this case against Al-Khalidi and considered it a security case after he organised a peaceful protest in front of the Kuwaiti Embassy in London on 18 May 2023, to support freedom of expression and denounce the use of the judiciary to target human rights activists.
These allegations are related to his 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 the sentence handed down by the Kuwait Criminal Court on 15 May 2023 against Al-Khalidi of five years in prison with hard labour after convicting him on charges that were also linked to his peaceful activities.
This was preceded by another ruling issued against him on 06 June 2022, for which he was sentenced in absentia to five years in prison with hard labour after he was convicted of allegedly committing a “hostile act” against Saudi Arabia. On 18 January 2023, he was pardoned by the Emir of Kuwait, which cancelled the first sentence issued against him in absentia.
For more information click here.
After the repeated targeting he was subjected to, Salman Al-Khalidi, 23 years old, was forced to travel to the United Kingdom, where he arrived on 21 May 2022, and submitted his papers to obtain political asylum.
GCHR strongly condemns the repeated use of the judiciary to harm blogger Salman Al-Khalidi, which clearly violates his legitimate right to freedom of expression on the Internet, freedom of peaceful assembly, and freedom to belong to and work in civil society organisations, and calls for an immediate halt to targeting him and for the authorities to drop all fabricated charges which were directed against him.
Once again, GCHR calls on the competent British authorities to provide him with full protection and grant him full political asylum as soon as possible.
