SOME activists are making what observers call the last minute move to refer the lawsuits of the jailed tweeters to the international organizations, while the Human Rights Watch has called for canceling the law that puts behind bars anyone who violates the dignity of the Amir. Such moves are usually made to clear the conscience of something which is bound to happen... but the rule of justice considers the social networking website ‘Twitter’ a public place, where insults and defamatory statements have become the way of life.

However, anyone who uses the criminal terminology should bear the consequences of what he/she has said. They should neither look for consolation nor ‘new human rights principles’. I will narrate a story to demonstrate the ill-mentioned Twitter. Frankly speaking I do not have a Twitter account and don’t plan to have one because I do not need it. In Belgium, two judges from a criminal court were forced to close their Twitter accounts after they were caught exchanging tweets which caused uproar in the media and judicial circles. The incident happened last autumn when one of the judges wrote on his tweet asking the other judge if he has the right to slap a witness, the other judge replied saying he will make the witness laugh.

Both judges were interrogated about the tweets that were published in newspapers and both were told to close their accounts. The exchange of words on Twitter is similar to chatting in a public place. Therefore, when some people talk about freedom of speech it shouldn’t be taken lightly, because everything has a limit and the limit has been set by law and ethics. One young Kuwaiti lawyer told me there is a law which punishes anyone who is heard insulting another person even if the person who insulted the other did so from a closed room but was heard by a passer-by.

According to the law this is considered insult or defamation. Therefore it is irrational for someone to call it freedom of speech to exonerate the youths or others from media or Twitter crimes. Al-Shahed daily published in detail the voting on the new labor law in the private sector - the voting took place in March 2010. In that law one article forbid labor unions from involvement in political and sectarian agendas which are of no interest for members. Most people who voted ‘for’ were former MPs in the 2012 Assembly — the same people who are now inciting labor unions to support their cause, through statements, marches and strikes... and this is something unacceptable.

It was also totally unacceptable and disgusting to see pictures of children in chains flashed across newspapers. These kinds of scenes are uncivilized and inhuman in all aspects and the Interior Ministry must shoulder the responsibility. We are calling on the ‘justice authority’, public prosecutors and judges to issue a stern warning for personnel from the Ministry of Interior to prevent such incidents from happening again. We condemn this incident because it is totally unacceptable.

E-mail: ali-albaghli@hotmail.com