Kuwait, once seen as an exception in the Gulf for its relatively vibrant parliamentary politics, has taken a sharp authoritarian turn. In May 2024, Emir Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad issued a royal decree suspending the elected National Assembly for up to four years. This move effectively dissolved the last remaining forum for public political representation in the country, transferring legislative authority to the executive. A Constitutional Committee was tasked with reviewing the 1962 Constitution, raising fears that the very foundations of political participation could be redrawn without popular consent.
Since then, the repression of critics has intensified. On 20 April 2025, Kuwait’s Court of Appeal upheld harsh prison sentences against five former parliamentarians and two former candidates. Their crime was publicly expressing opposition to the Emir’s decision and defending the integrity of the dissolved National Assembly. These were not calls to violence, but social media posts and campaign statements urging a return to democratic norms. The court treated these expressions as national security threats and handed down prison terms of up to four years. The rulings cited vague charges such as “insulting the Emir” or “abusing the use of a phone,” revealing how far Kuwait’s judiciary has been instrumentalized to silence dissent.
This targeting of former lawmakers is part of a broader authoritarian pattern. Prominent Bedoon rights defender Mohammed al-Barghash is currently imprisoned after simply requesting a meeting with the Minister of Interior. What began as a peaceful plea for justice was twisted into a state security case. Legal experts inside Kuwait have rightly denounced the charges as fabricated and retaliatory. His ordeal underscores how even modest acts of civic engagement can now be met with criminalization.
The repression extends beyond political voices to the country’s most vulnerable. In 2025, Kuwaiti authorities launched a sweeping crackdown on migrant workers, arresting at least 440 foreign nationals under a newly enacted residency law, Amiri Decree No. 114. The law empowers the Ministry of Interior to deport individuals without judicial oversight for vague reasons like “public morals” or “national interest.” These arbitrary powers compound the abuses already embedded in the kafala system, leaving migrant workers with virtually no protection against exploitation or expulsion.
Taken together, these developments suggest that Kuwait is moving rapidly toward becoming a police state where dissent is punished, rights are hollowed out, and authoritarianism is codified into law. The country’s legal system is no longer an arbiter of justice but a mechanism of control, deployed to silence those who challenge the status quo or advocate for the rights of others.
In the face of this alarming deterioration, solidarity is urgent. Former parliamentarians, political candidates, migrant workers, and activists are paying a high price for speaking out. Foreign lawmakers, civil society actors, and international institutions should not look away. They should stand publicly with their Kuwaiti counterparts and raise their voices before it becomes impossible for Kuwaitis to raise theirs.
