KUWAIT CITY, Oct 28: The Criminal Court ruled that the Kuwaiti criminal judiciary does not have the jurisdiction to hear a lawsuit filed by a girl of Gulf nationality against a Kuwaiti woman on charges of misusing the phone, insulting her, and defaming her. The plaintiff had accused the defendant of filming her without a hijab while she was dancing in an indecent manner inside a restaurant in a Gulf country and a chalet in Kuwait, and sending two clips of her to a person of another Gulf nationality who had a relationship with her, without her knowledge or consent and with the intention of offending and harming her.

The plaintiff stated that the accused deliberately insulted and defamed her through communication devices and means using which she took two video clips of her in which she appeared in an indecent manner, and sent them through the instant messaging application WhatsApp with the intention of offending her modesty and harming her honor.

During the court session, the defense attorney Lawyer Shahad Khaled Al-Khalidi argued that the elements of the crime were absent and that the accusation leveled against her client was malicious, adding that the court had no jurisdiction to hear the dispute because the incident in question occurred outside the territorial scope of the State of Kuwait, based on article 11 of the Kuwaiti Penal Code. She said the investigations by the incident officer confirmed that the incident was committed outside the country, and not inside it.

By Jaber Al-Hamoud
Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff