Kuwait court supports govt. closure of critical newspaper
The Supreme Court in Kuwait has upheld a ruling which supports a government decision to close leading newspaper al-Watan that has been highly critical of the government.
Back in January, the kingdom’s Ministries of Commerce and Industry scrapped the commercial and media license of the daily, saying the paper failed to comply with legally required financial terms.
A lower court had also ruled that the government decision was legal and Kuwait’s court of appeal upheld the ruling in May.
On Monday, the Supreme Court said that the decision is final and cannot be appealed.
Kuwait cancels the commercial licenses of companies with losses worth more than 75 percent of their capital.
According to reports, al-Watan’s financial losses were more than 75 percent of the publishing house’s capital.
Al-Watan has, however, claimed that the decision was politically-motivated, particularly because the paper had been critical of the government.
The daily is owned by a member of Kuwait’s ruling family and former oil minister, Sheikh Ali Khalifa al-Sabah, and run by his son Sheikh Khalifa. It was first published in 1962 as a weekly but later became a daily in 1974.
Al-Watan was supportive of the government policies but adopted a critical stance over the past two years.
In June, Kuwait’s Ministry of Information revoked the licenses of three television channels operated by al-Watan media group.
Also in April 2014, al-Watan and another Kuwaiti daily Alam al-Youm were suspended for two weeks as the two broke a government-imposed blackout on covering reports about former senior officials planning to stage a coup to overthrow the government of the Persian Gulf country.
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