New Kuwaiti Amnesty Rules

On 5 November 2018, the Chairman of the Amiri Rules and Regulations Committee Counselor Mohammad Fuhaid Al-Zuabi presented the guidelines on the adoption of Amiri amnesty for this year to the Lt-Gen Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior.

The Minister confirmed that the Amiri Grant translates the humanitarian dimension of the wise leadership in Kuwait, which prioritizes humanitarian consideration and encourages rehabilitation programs in correctional institutions. These said rules have been completed and are awaiting the approval of the Minister of Justice. Once this approval is obtained, the files of the prisoners will be examined and matched with the rules of the amnesty.

One of the most important rules of the new amnesty is the deportation of all expatriates who are serving judicial sentences, regardless of the period of their residencies or whether their family members reside within the country. Previously a plea letter was allowed to be offered for the release of the expatriate inmates who are residents of Kuwait for a period exceeding twenty years or whose families reside within the country. The new rules require the expatriates undergoing judicial sentences to be deported to their countries.

Expatriate husbands of Kuwaiti women, Bedouin residents, expatriate sons of Kuwaiti mothers, and expatriate wives of Kuwaiti men are excluded from this decision of...