Court of Cassation, thank you for justice over those on a travel ban
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IT IS a victory for the Constitution and the establishment of the principle to not curtail the freedom of citizens. Therefore, the Court of Cassation’s ruling on neither confiscating a citizen’s passport nor preventing him from traveling is an essential pillar in preserving the freedoms of all citizens without discrimination. However, such measures are expected in case a criminal offense is committed against State security, against oneself, forgery or others when the court restricts the offender’s freedom for a certain period, not a permanent ban.
In essence, this ruling strengthens the freedoms currently threatened by parliamentary proposals on restricting citizens within the outdated frameworks. At the same time, it ends physical coercion in misdemeanor civil cases. It is also a milestone in Kuwaiti judicial practice, which is accustomed to making rulings in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. Even if there is a setback, the Cassation Court turns the compass to the right direction.
Without a doubt; about 120,000 citizens suffer from restriction of their movement due to small debts, including the famous case of preventing a citizen from traveling because of unpaid debt of KD 10 or KD 5,000 or even KD 50,000 or KD 100,000. Given that this person has no homeland other than Kuwait and as long as the case is pending in the judiciary, no executive action should be taken, except through a fi nal ruling. It does not entail preventing him from traveling and returning to the country. It is said that some Kuwaitis have been banned from traveling for 30 years and others for 40 years.
Without a doubt, their suffering is much greater than the misdemeanor they committed. This procedure does not exist in any other country throughout the world, except Kuwait; because of the incomplete reading of the meaning of constitutionally guaranteed freedoms, rather the meaning of the sovereignty of the Constitution, through which the State is organized.
Today, when the Court of Cassation — the highest judicial level — issues this type of ruling, it means that everyone must abide by the decision. All executive authorities in the State must make this historical text as their guide to practice in the future. It is true that the creditor must preserve his rights, but he does not have the right to enjoy a right that is not permitted by the Constitution, because that would be a violation of the basic rules on which the State was founded.
Hence, the executive authority must not take any measure that restricts the freedom of citizens. Rather, the National Assembly must reconsider a series of legislation that contradicts the Constitution in letter and substance, as well as its explanatory memorandum, which confl icts with human rights guaranteed by the law constitutionality and internationally.
Whoever believes that the law is superior to the Constitution is delusional. One who believes that his temporary authority gives him an eternal right to practice injustice on others is ignorant. Since time immemorial, Kuwait has been an oasis of freedom of opinion, movement and creativity. It was essentially based on these pillars that were crystallized by the constitutional texts and a series of rulings by the Court of Cassation. The greater is the boldness on the right established by the Cassation Court, the more certain we are that Kuwait is on the right path.
Therefore, the bats of backwardness lurking in the corridors of the National Assembly, the executive authority and the deep State must not be allowed to impose their vision that contradicts the Constitution. Indeed, a big thank you to the Court of Cassation, which wrote a number of systematic rulings, restoring the true splendor and image of Kuwaitis and Kuwait – not the impurities that remained due to some people’s ignorance of the Constitution.
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