KUWAIT CITY, 16 March 2003 — The Kuwait Journalists Association yesterday announced its support for measures taken by the Information Ministry banning Israeli journalists from entering Kuwait.
The association “asserts its stand and support for the decision taken by the minister which proves Kuwait’s commitment to the national stance rejecting normalization of ties with the Zionist enemy,” said a statement.
The ministry last week circulated an announcement to more than 1,000 foreign journalists currently based in Kuwait to cover a possible US-led war on Iraq, reminding them that Kuwaiti law “prevents any kind of cooperation or interaction with Israel.”
The ministry warned against feeding Israeli news and broadcasting organizations with reports for broadcast from the state of Kuwait. “Any organization or person who violate the above said notice will face legal prosecution,” it added.
The ministry announcement prompted an appeal from Reporters Sans Frontieres urging Information Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah to “withdraw his threats against foreign journalists based in Kuwait who pass information to Israeli news media,” according to the organization’s website.
Islamist MP Waleed Al-Tabtabai Friday issued a statement saying “there is no meaning or basis to the objections by Reporters Sans Frontieres because Israeli journalists are either reservists in the Israeli Army or Mossad agents.”
Kuwait, he added, “has the right to prevent them from coming for security reasons... And the Zionist entity is still, from a legal point of view, in a state of war with Kuwait.”
