A court in Kuwait has ordered Qatar-based Arab news channel Al-Jazeera to pay damages of 20,000 dinars ($73,000) for airing a programme perceived as insulting to the Gulf Arab state, a lawyer said on Wednesday.
Four Kuwaiti lawyers sued the satellite television in 2002 after it carried a programme in which “Kuwait and its people were insulted and accused of being responsible for the 1990 Iraqi invasion” of their country, Mohammad Taleb, one of the four lawyers, told newswire AFP.
“We filed the case as Kuwaiti citizens who thought that the channel’s management allowed insults and lies to be aired against our country,” he said. The verdict was issued by the court of first instance on Tuesday.
The lawyers sought a compensation of 60,000 dinars ($219,000) based on an earlier verdict that convicted the channel and ordered it to pay a “temporary” compensation of 5,000 dinars, Taleb said.
Al-Jazeera paid the initial compensation in 2005, months after the Kuwaiti government allowed it to reopen its office following a closure for two and a half years, he said.
Al-Jazeera’s office in Kuwait confirmed paying the “temporary” compensation but added they will appeal against the new ruling.
Taleb said he and other lawyers would also appeal the new ruling because the amount awarded is too small.
The ruling has to be confirmed by the courts of appeal and cassation in order to be effective.
Kuwait closed the office of Al-Jazeera in November 2002 in the run-up to the US-led war on Iraq because it said the channel took a hostile stand against Kuwait, and for security reasons, before reopening it in May 2005.
This followed an official visit by Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, whose country has often had problems with other Arab states over controversial coverage by Al-Jazeera.
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