COURT to Examine ORDER to Shut TWO NEWSPAPERS
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SUBSCRIPTION TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 2014 JAMADA ALTHANI 22, 1435 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Efforts Biden makes All aboard! Man United needed to Ukraine visit Sudan’s sleek evasive protect Gulf as Russia new train on Moyes museums2 blames10 Kiev a22 rarity sack20 reports Court to examine order Max 40º Min 26º to shut two newspapers High Tide 05:38 & 15:57 Low Tide Probe panel wants details on MPs’ finances 10:38 & 23:48 40 PAGES NO: 16143 150 FILS By B Izzak suspension decision until it has issued a strongly criticized the information ministry information about the investigation and from the editor’s desk verdict on the matter. for demanding the closure, saying that the not publishing about the issue in general. KUWAIT: The Al-Watan and Alam Al-Youm The two newspapers were ordered shut action reflects a government policy to sup- Adasani said the government is using The cost of silence dailies yesterday challenged a judicial by a judge for allegedly breaking a news press freedom and silence people. He said articles of the press and publications law to order to suspend them for two weeks, and blackout. The two newspapers however that the government is also using the law unjustly penalize newspapers. The lawmak- the court decided to look into their appeal continued to publish online and kept to punish newspapers with decisions like er threatened that the closure of any news- today, lawyers said. The lawyers for the two updating their stories yesterday. Al-Watan this one to shut publications down even paper for any reason could force him and newspapers demanded that the decision republished two articles it said were the before a final court decision is made. The his colleagues to include the issue in their be reversed because it was not supported reason for the order to shut it down. lawmaker said the news blackout prevents planned grilling against the prime minister. By Abd Al-Rahman Al-Alyan by law and called on the court to freeze the MP Riyadh Al-Adasani meanwhile the media from publishing confidential Continued on Page 15 Runners reclaim Boston Marathon [email protected] BOSTON: Tens of thousands of runners, cheered by a multitude of spectators, set off through the streets of his week the public prosecution shut down two Boston yesterday to reclaim the world’s oldest newspapers in Kuwait for violating a ban on the marathon from the fear left by last year’s deadly twin Tpublication of news and information related to a bombing. More than 3,500 police, double the size of the videotape. The gag order also applies to Kuwait Times force last year, and multiple government security agen- and I will not, therefore, discuss the issue of the tape. cies are keeping watch to prevent any replay of the Instead, I want to talk about what we cannot say. I ghastly carnage that devastated the race on April 15, don’t mean we as in the media in Kuwait. There are clear 2013 when two explosive devices tore through the redlines - commercial, religious and political - whether crowds at the finish line. Three people were killed and we like to admit it or not, and anyone that works in the 264 injured in a rain of shrapnel. media in Kuwait knows them. There are also uncertain- “We want to show that the runner spirit is very ties around some issues. Let’s call them the ‘grey area’ resilient, and strong. This year we come back more and where you never know how people will respond to what better than ever,” said Amby Burfoot, the 1968 winner you write. All editors, reporters, writers and columnists who is running again at age 67 after being kept from practice self-censorship, which sadly is more powerful finishing the 2013 race because of the attack. “The peo- and much more insidious than any of us would like to ple of Boston - they will be there twice as many, twice as believe. loud,” he said. A moment of silence was observed at the This is even more frightening given that Kuwait’s starting line in Hopkinton, just before the first wave of press is among the freest, most vocal and most vibrant runners set off on the 26.2-mile course through Boston. in the region. In fact, Kuwait ranks the highest in the Disabled participants in wheelchairs were the first to go, Middle East. Kuwait should be proud of how far its press followed by the elite runners. has come and I am proud to be a member of its press A clear blue sky, sunshine and cool weather greeted corps. But let’s not be mistaken that Kuwait’s better- the participants - 36,000 runners from all over the than-its-peers ranking equals a free press. The gag order world, 9,000 more than last year and near the record and the closure of two newspapers is a rude awakening 38,708 on the marathon’s centenary in 1996. Meb that there is still a lot of work to be done. Keflezighi became the first US man since 1983 to win Moreover, neither Kuwait’s press nor its people are the event, in two hours, eight minutes and 37 seconds. truly free to say whatever they feel. They talk in private, Kenya’s Rita Jeptoo won her second women’s title in a will even discuss in diwaniyas the problems of the coun- row and third overall. She set a women’s course record try, their concerns and fears. But no one, neither citizen BOSTON: Husband and wife bombing survivors Patrick Downes and Jessica Kensky, who each lost a leg in of 2:18:57. nor expat, will express in public, on the record anything last year’s bombings, roll across the finish line at the 118th Boston Marathon yesterday. — AP (See Page 20) Continued on Page 15 that can be deemed controversial or might cause upset. There are many reasons for this. First, Kuwait is a small society and everyone knows pretty much every- one within their relative communities. The social con- Bourse takes step towards delayed IPO straints are many and run deep. Second, you never know who may be connected to or behind a particular issue and wasta is too prevalent in this society to risk New Capital Markets Authority law eyed losing it over an issue or subject you may not have the full picture of. KUWAIT: Kuwait’s stock exchange took a step towards process. Kuwait’s Capital Markets Authority (CMA), might take place. The privatisation would make Kuwait Third, there is a natural tendency to keep problems an initial public offer of its shares yesterday after the which regulates the stock market, said the stock the second listed bourse in the Gulf Arab region, after behind closed doors. Part of this is understandable giv- state’s financial regulator said it had established the exchange chairman had signed a contract establishing Dubai Financial Market. Under a law passed in 2010, en Kuwait’s troubled past with neighbors and its small bourse as a company with a capital of KD 60 million the company at the CMA headquarters yesterday. the CMA is supposed to offer 50 percent of the shares size. Why open up about issues that other countries ($213 million). The country has been considering an Under the contract, Kuwait Stock Exchange will to Kuwaiti citizens and 50 percent to ten companies might exploit? Fourth, the divisions that exist within IPO of its stock market for years, but political infighting have 600 million shares priced at 100 fils each, the listed on the stock exchange. society - between locals and expats, between men and and entrenched bureaucracy have held up the CMA said in a statement. It did not say when an IPO Continued on Page 15 women, between sects, between hadhar and tribals, between old and young - can also be exploited and used against Kuwait or against each other. Why risk it? A fifth though far from final reason is that secrecy Saudi health minister and silence allow much that is wrong to fester and Syria calls June 3 polls thrive. Transparency and openness are goals that even the most democratic, the most open and the most sacked as MERS spreads DAMASCUS: Syria announced yester- Speaker Mohammad Al-Lahham transparent society strives for. day it will hold a June 3 presidential announced the date in parliament, It has become clear to me that when speaking to my RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah election, which is expected to return saying Syrians living outside the coun- fellow Kuwaitis about some of the defects of our system, sacked the country’s health minister yester- Bashar Al-Assad to office despite a civil try would vote on May 28 and candi- the majority seem to know what needs to be done. day amid a spike in deaths and infections war that has cost tens of thousands of dates would be able to register from However, when it comes to changing things, personal from the virus known as the Middle East lives. Underlining the persistent vio- Tuesday until May 1. Voting would be interest trumps societal good. Openness and trans- respiratory syndrome, or MERS. A royal lence, mortar fire killed two people near “free and fair... and under full judicial parency tend to weed out inefficiencies, illuminate order carried by the state news agency said the parliament building shortly before supervision”, he said. He urged Syrians bribery and other corruption and hold governments Abdullah Al-Rabiah was relieved of his post the election date was announced.