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The Kuwaiti government should scrap a controversial media reform law, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says. Following news that the Ministry of Information suspended a popular television program, “Talk Shawk”, presented by opposition journalist Mohammad al-Washeehi late Wednesday, HRW is renewing its call for Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber al-Mubarak to abandon a punishing proposed United Media Law that would severely curtail free speech and impose stiff fines for  “disrespecting” the constitution and “offending the emir.” The Prime Minister delayed the enactment of the new law, expected to pass parliament this month, in April after intense criticism forced him to consult editors and journalists first. Sarah Leah Whitson, the Middle East director at HRW, said of the proposed law: “As currently drafted, it would create new red lines for the media and close down the space for public debate, reversing the trend toward greater openness.” Jason Stern at the Committee to Protect Journalists warned that “The choice confronting the Kuwaiti government isn’t between passing a bad media law and freedom of the press. In fact, the choice so far has been between keeping bad media laws on the books or passing an even worse law,” adding that the government should strive to uphold freedom of the press in a new enlightened  reform bill.

Also in the Gulf, The U.S. ambassador to Yemen revealed talks between the USA and Saudi Arabia to accelerate measures to establish a fund to support Yemen’s democratic transition. Ambassador Gerald Feierstein, accompanied by Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary for Africa and the Middle East Andrew Baukol, expressed American interest in continuing to support Yemen any way it could, including providing technical and logistical aid to the government and urging the International Monetary Fund to provide the largest amount of financial assistance in its Yemen support program’s first year of implementation.

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On Tuesday, Bahrain’s foreign ministry and members of its parliament rejected the U.S. Department of State’s 2012 report on human rights practices in the country, released on April 19th. The foreign ministry stated that “the report lacks objectivity and impartiality, and has overlooked Bahrain’s progress in protecting and promoting human rights.” MP Latifa al-Gaoud called the report “evil” and said it would be used to blackmail Bahrain’s leadership. MP Abdulla Bin Howail said the report was baseless and accused the U.S. Ambassador, Thomas Krajeski, of having “predetermined plans against Bahrain.” On Monday, the State Department had refuted criticism of its report.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International renewed its call for Bahrain to release Mahdi Abu Dheeb, the president of the Bahrain Teachers Association, from prison. Abu Dheeb was convicted and given a ten-year sentence for plotting to overthrown the government in 2011, though the sentence was later halved. Amnesty describes him as a ‘prisoner of conscience’ and notes that he and his vice-president, Jalila al-Salman, have alleged that they were tortured while detained. Amnesty stated, “All that they did was call for a strike in their role as trade union leaders. Mahdi and Jalila were punished for doing their job.”

Elsewhere in the Gulf, a Kuwaiti court convicted Abdulaziz al-Mutairi, a Saudi man, in absentia, of insulting the Emir on Twitter. Al-Mutairi, whose whereabouts are currently unknown, received the maximum sentence of five-years in prison, followed by deportation. He can appeal the ruling. Kuwait’s court of appeals reduced blogger Saqr al-Hashash‘s sentence from two years to one. He was jailed for undermining the status of the Emir on Twitter. Finally, a Kuwaiti court adjourned the trial of approximately 40 people who are being charged with staging an unlicensed rally until May 27th.

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Human Rights Watch (HRW) praised a Yemeni court order to investigate the country’s former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and 11 top aides in connection with a fatal attack on peaceful protesters in Sa’ana in March 2011 that killed 45. Calling it a “step toward justice,” HRW urged authorities to comply with the order and reopen the original investigation of the so-called Friday of Dignity massacre, which was suspended by a court awaiting a ruling on a compromise immunity deal that secured Saleh’s departure from power.  Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said the investigation “may prove a breakthrough for justice in Yemen,” adding that, “The authorities should leave no stone unturned until they have identified the people responsible for these killings and held them to account.” Yemeni Attorney General Ali al-Awash also ordered a second investigation of Saleh and his son Ahmed Ali regarding a May 2011 attack on the home of the powerful al-Ahmar family that killed several people.

In Kuwait, the country’s court of appeals amended the sentence of an opposition activist charged with insulting the emir, reducing his sentence from two years to one. Sager al-Hashash was sentenced to two years in prison on March 7 for remarks about the emir he made via Twitter. Criticizing the emir is considered a state security offense and can carry a punishment of up to five years in jail. A new media law that increases the penalty of persons found guilty of insulting the country’s emir and restricting media freedom was passed by the government earlier this month and still requires the approval of parliament. The Committee to Protect Journalists is urging Kuwait to abandon the proposal, which may impose a fine as much as $1 million for criticizing the emir.

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The annual State Department human rights report on Kuwait described the Gulf country’s principal human rights problems as “limitations on citizens’ right to change their government; restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly, especially among foreign workers and stateless Arabs (called “Bidoon”); trafficking in persons within the foreign worker population… and limitations on workers’ rights.” The report also notes a limitation on freedom of the press, religion, and association. While Kuwait’s December parliamentary elections were described as “generally free and fair,”  the State Department noted that many opposition groups boycotted and that the government doesn’t recognize or allow any political parties.

The report also details discrimination against women, bidoons, and members of the LGBT community. In addition, while “there were no reports of political prisoners or detainees,” the report notes that “there were reports that police arbitrarily arrested individuals during the year,” and that “there was some evidence of police impunity.”  On freedom of speech, the report noted that “the constitution provides for freedom of speech and press,” but that “the government sometimes did not respect these rights.” It also pointed out that the government “prohibits material insulting Islam, the emir, the constitution, or the neutrality of the courts or Public Prosecutor’s Office.” Furthermore, “the government prosecuted and punished individuals for the expression of political or religious views via the Internet.”

The State Department noted that the Kuwaiti constitution provides for freedom of assembly and association, but in practice the government restricted these rights. The government also “restricted the operations of domestic and international human rights groups and limited cooperation with them.” In addition, while “the law prohibits discrimination based on race, origin, disability, or language,” it does not “prohibit discrimination based on social status, gender, or sexual orientation.” On the rights of women, the report noted that “women have many political rights, including the right to vote and serve in parliament and the cabinet; however, they do not enjoy the same rights as men under family law, property law, or in the judicial system.”

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The State Department released the 2012 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. These reports provide detailed assessments of the status of human rights around the world. Uzra Zeya, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, called the reports “the factual foundation upon which we build and shape our policies.” Introducing the reports on Friday, Secretary of State John Kerry discussed the role of human rights in U.S. foreign policy, saying, “promoting human rights isn’t… a foreign policy priority simply because it’s the right thing to do. It’s tied to our own security.”

In a summary of the major findings of the reports, the Department of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor noted an “ongoing struggle” for democratic change in the Middle East as one of the most noteworthy developments in 2012. It cited “Bashar Assad’s brutality against his own people in Syria; inter-communal tensions and political violence in Yemen, Bahrain, and Iraq; and serious hurdles to sustainable democracy in Egypt and Libya” as challenges facing transitions in the region.

Each country report identified the country’s most significant human rights abuses. The reports cited Bahrain, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates as states restricting citizens’ rights to change their government. Iran, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, UAE, Saudia Arabia, Syria, Qatar, and Oman were found to restrict civil liberties including freedom of speech, expression, and assembly, and Egypt, Tunisia, and UAE were also cited as severely limiting freedom of the press. Corruption within the government was noted as a significant impediment to human rights in Iraq and Morocco. The reports also alleged that the governments of Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen violated human rights through torture, killings, and other acts of violence. Arbitrary arrests and detentions, violence and discrimination against women and children, restrictions on NGOs, disregard for the rule of law among security forces, lack of an independent or effective judiciary, and politically motivated violence were also identified as human rights abuses in the region.

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A former Kuwaiti MP and main opposition figure has been sentenced to five years in prison for insulting the country’s emir. Mussallam al-Barrak served six terms in the Kuwaiti parliament but was arrested in October 2012 for “undermining the emir” after he stated at a public rally: “We will not allow you, your highness, to take Kuwait into the abyss of autocracy… We no longer fear your prisons and your baton sticks.” Al-Barrak defended his statement, saying, “I did not insult the emir. I addressed the head of the state.” His lawyers called the ruling unconstitutional and said that they would appeal, while former MP Osama al-Shaheen tweeted his support for al-Barrak, saying, “Musallam al-Barrak is… a conscience of a nation struggling to protect its rights, freedoms and wealth.”

Meanwhile, Sarah Leah Whitson, Executive Director of the Middle East and North Africa Division at Human Rights Watch, sent a letter to President Obama today asking him to discuss the UAE’s “worsened” human rights situation with the country’s Crown Prince, who is visiting Washington later this week. She writes, “I urge you to press [Crown Prince] al-Nahyan to ensure the UAE authorities cease arbitrary detentions, respect the rights to fair trial, freedom of expression and opinion, launch a thorough, independent and impartial investigation into allegations of torture, and reform its anti-trafficking laws to provide for the prosecution of trafficking for forced labor.” Commenting on her letter, Whitson said, “President Obama should break with past US soft-pedalling criticism of severe abuses in the UAE, especially when he has called publicly for other countries in the region to respect human rights.”

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Bedoon activist Abdulhakim al-Fadhli was released Sunday after being acquitted of attacking a police man. He had been held without bail for 103 days. He gave this speech shortly after his release at an event organized by the Popular Committee to Organize the Movement.

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Kuwait’s parliament unanimously passed a bill on Wednesday to grant citizenship to up to 4000 foreigners. MPs called on the government to use the bill, which must be signed by the emir to become law, to address the problem of stateless people, or bidoon. There are approximately 106,000 bidoon in Kuwait. They claim Kuwaiti nationality but the government considers them illegal residents. MP Khaled al-Shulaimi said, “The majority of those to be granted nationality must be bidoons…We will hold the government to account if it commits any violations in this issue.” Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah al-Sabah, State Minister for Cabinet Affairs, said the government hopes the law will be “the foundation for resolving the bidoon problem.”

Also on Wednesday, Kuwait’s Court of Appeals increased blogger Bader al-Rasheedi prison sentence from two years to five. He was convicted of undermining the status of the emir and challenging his prerogatives. The ruling can be appealed. The court dismissed the charges against activist Abdul Hakim al-Fadhli, who had been sentenced to a two-year prison term for organizing illegal protests, encouraging participation in them, and assaulting police. Kuwait denied entry to an Iranian-American religious figure, Murtadha al-Quzwaini, for insulting the Prophet Mohammed’s companions in an lecture.

On Tuesday, Kuwait announced plans to reduce the number of ex-patriot workers in the country by one million over the next ten years. There are currently 1.8 million expat workers in Kuwait. Dhikra al-Rasheedi, Minister of Social Affairs and Labour, said, “The move is part of the ministry’s efforts to regulate the labour market, curb the phenomenon of marginal labour and restore the demographic equilibrium of the country.” She said that the transfer of visit visas into work permits will be halted starting in April and that worker recruitment would be restricted to the locally available pool.

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Opposition forces in Kuwait  announced the formation of a new alliance Sunday. The Opposition Coalition will bring together a wide spectrum of political groups under one umbrella, with the objective of reinvigorating the country’s protest movement. The announcement was delivered by former MP Musallam al-Barrak. In his statement, al-Barrak said that the coalition was created to press for democratic and political reforms, including the formation of an elected government, changing the electoral system into a party system, and the creation of a full parliamentary system. The coalition, which brings together liberals, nationalists, trade and student unions, civil society groups, and Salafi and Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated groups, among others, will strongly oppose the government’s security crackdown on opposition figures. Within hours of the announcement, the Umma Party, which had initially committed to joining the alliance, withdrew, saying that it wanted more radical reforms than the coalition would pursue.

In other news, the U.S. State Department announced on Tuesday that Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns will lead the U.S. delegation to the March 7 Friends of Yemen meeting in London. The meeting is being held to reaffirm the international community’s support for the Yemeni people during the country’s democratic transition process.

Meanwhile, Oman’s Supreme Court has ordered a retrial for 11 activists convicted of forming an illegal gathering last year, after they staged a hunger strike last month. The group’s lawyer Khalifa al-Hinai called the court’s decision “a victory,” adding that “we hope there will be a dismissal after the review.”

Meanwhile, Reprieve, a prisoners’ rights group, alleged on Thursday that three British men detained in the UAE on drug charges since July 2012 had been tortured. The Dubai police denied the claim. Separately, the UAE will begin its prosecution of the 94 Emiratis charged with planning to overthrow the government on March 4.

Finally, Kuwait’s appeals court upheld publisher Zayed al-Zayed‘s one month prison sentence for defaming former MP and minister Abdul Mohsin al-Midaj, but a further appeal was planned. Kuwait’s criminal court delayed the trials of two bloggers charged with either undermining or insulting the emir, released five bloggers accused of similar crimes, and charged a teacher for tweeting “remarks deemed offensive by the authorities.”