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Bahrain Human Rights Practices
Prior to the occupation of Kuwait in 1990, the
principal
human rights concerns, aside from widespread restriction
on the
exercise of political expression, were instances of
arbitrary
arrest and mistreatment of prisoners and lack of due
process in
security trials. A number of Kuwaitis were arrested
between late
1989 and mid-1990 for political reasons and for
participating in
unlicensed gatherings. Noncitizens could be arbitrarily
expelled
if deemed security risks and were also subject to
deportation if
they were unable to find work after being released from
their
initial employment. Some foreigners reportedly were held
in
deportation centers for up to five years because they were
unable
to provide for their own travel out of the country.
According to
the Department of State, there were plausible reports of
occasional torture and violence in apprehending and
interrogating
criminal suspects.
The seven-month Iraqi occupation subjected Kuwaitis to
a
systematic terror campaign that included extrajudicial
killings,
torture and other inhuman treatment, kidnappings, and
arbitrary
arrest and detention. There were many credible accounts of
killings, not only of members of the Kuwaiti resistance
but also
of their families, other civilians, and young children.
Attacks
on Iraqi soldiers resulted in reprisal actions in
neighborhoods
where attacks had taken place and included summary and
random
execution of innocent civilians. Many Kuwaiti citizens
also
disappeared at the hands of the Iraqi occupation
authorities.
Large-scale executions of young men by gunfire or by
hanging were
reported. About 850 Kuwaitis remained unaccounted for in
early
1993, many of them presumably killed while in Iraqi
detention.
Iraq insisted that it had no Kuwaiti prisoners.
After the restoration of the amirate government in
1991,
there were many reports of beatings and torture to extract
confessions from suspected collaborators. The Department
of State
estimated that forty-five to fifty Palestinian and other
foreigners were tortured to death by police or military
personnel. As many as 5,800 persons, mostly non-Kuwaitis,
were
detained on suspicion of collaboration during the four
months of
martial law that followed the country's liberation. Many
arrests
were arbitrary, and some detainees were held for months
without
being charged. As of early 1993, about 900 persons were
still in
detention; these included persons convicted in the State
Security
Court or martial law courts and those under deportation
order but
with no place to go. Of the prewar population of about
400,000
Palestinians resident in Kuwait, only about 30,000 remain.
Most
of the departures occurred during the Iraqi occupation:
the
remainder left because of less favorable living
circumstances or
Kuwaiti pressure.
Data as of January 1993
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