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Kuwait
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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