Kuwait City, January 18: Kuwaiti journalists on Monday blasted a state plan for tougher punishment of press offences, and urged parliament to reject amendments to existing laws.
Newspaper and television editors met and agreed to boycott lawmakers who back the amendments, said a statement from the Kuwait Journalists Association.
“We urged MPs to reject the government plan to amend the press law,” the statement said.
Faisal al-Quenae, who heads the association, said the government move was an attempt to curb media freedoms.
Information Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah al-Sabah told newspaper editors late Sunday of plans to amend the press and publications law, and the so-called audio-visual law that controls private television stations.
Publishing without an official licence would be punishable with a fine of up to 175,000 dollars, instead of the 3,500 dollars under the existing law.
He said that broadcasting without a television licence would be punishable by a two-year jail term, instead of fines stipulated under current laws.
The amendments must be approved by the cabinet before they go to parliament for debate.
Kuwaiti officials have in the past few weeks accused some local media of fueling political and social tensions and called for tougher penalties to curb violators.
Media in the Gulf state enjoy considerable freedoms and have been aggressive in criticising top government officials, including the prime minister. But any criticism of the ruler, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, is strictly forbidden by law.
Under the current law, no journalist can be jailed or a newspaper closed without a final court verdict.
—-Agencies