KUWAIT CITY, Feb 3: A 20-year-old youth Adel, who claims to have been wrongly accused of cross-dressing, narrated his woes to Al-Rai daily.

Adel, who recently came out of prison after serving a six-month term, was born male but due to a hormonal imbalance, he has some feminine qualities. He claims that he didn’t actually cross-dress and that a policeman forced him to dress like a woman to fulfill his own urges.

Adel said the policeman, a lieutenant, stopped him at a checkpoint in Hawalli area and while checking his driver’s license, asked him why his voice was so soft. When he told the reason, the lieutenant reportedly called his friends and soon seven officers arrived for a ‘closer inspection.’ They reportedly asked him to remove his cap and when he refused, they pushed him to the ground. He said he was injured as a result. The officers allegedly then checked his car and found an underwear belonging to his mother in the vehicle.

He said they inspected the garment in full public view and took him to the investigations department.
Adel claimed that an officer took him to a compound in Salmiya and asked him to take off his clothes and wear women’s garments. He said when he refused to do so, the officer got angry and referred him to the Criminal Investigation Department. Adel alleged that he was raped and repeatedly harassed by securitymen. He maintains that he was wrongly imprisoned because he didn’t give in to their wishes.
When asked if he voted, Adel said he didn’t because none of the candidates deserved his vote.