Six PAAET experts say received threats of probe and punishment

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KUWAIT CITY, March 25: Six academics from the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET) revealed that they have received threats of investigation and punishment due to their posts on their Twitter accounts, reports Al-Qabas daily.

In an interview with a number of academics, they said such moves by the concerned authorities are in violation of Article 36 of the Kuwaiti Constitution which guarantees freedom of expression. Dr Hashem Al-Rifai, who is a professor at PAAET, stressed his rejection of the PAAET policy which insists on referring employees for investigations if they expressed opinions about the spread of corruption in their workplace.

He revealed that corruption in PAAET is related to granting promotions to some undeserving employees as well as illegal appointments. Meanwhile, Prof. Bashar Al-Othman said the threats against academics due to their posts on social media are increasing and have nothing to do with the open and free environment that has become available on the Internet especially social media.

He affirmed that he is against any moves that seize the right of academics to monitor and criticize the administrative performance in their workplaces. In addition, Dr Muhammad Al-Watyan indicated that he was the target of a severe attack by the PAAET administration when he spoke out about stolen researches, appointment of some individuals in undeserving positions and suspicious promotions.

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