'Free' Kuwait keeps convert's passport

BY JOE JENKINti,
THE KLPX'AITI authorities in London have written to the Catholic Herald to reinforce their defence of the Kuwaiti constitution, which, the country maintains, guarantees the religious freedom sought by Robert Hussein, the Christian convert who in June was found guilty of apostasy in an Islamic court.
Basem Al-loughani, director of the Kuwait Information Centre in London and spokesman for the Kuwaiti Embassy, wrote: "No persecution of non-Moslems ever has taken place in the country and Christians, in particular, always enjoyed full freedom to practise their faith."
Mr Al-loughani was responding to a letter the Herald published on 2 August, in which a concerned reader urged other Herald readers to write to the Kuwaiti authorities, who she blamed for allowing Islamic law to persecute 44-year-old Mr Hussein. Kuwaiti law, according to Mr Al-loughani's letter, is "without any discrimination" and "treats people equally regardless of origin, religion, color or language".
However, as the Herald revealed last month, while Articles 29 and 35 of the constitution often quoted by Kuwaiti officials guarantee religious freedoms explicitly, Article 2 never quoted by Kuwaiti officials states that a "main source" of the constitution springs from Islamic law, the very law that has led to such widespread interest in Mr Hussein's case.
Stuart Windsor, spokesman for the British operation of Christian Solidarity International,.who have provided legal support for Mr Hussein, told the Herald that the case was brought by Muslim lawyers in an attempt to bring state law closer to Sharia Islamic law as in countries like Pakistan.
He said: "Christians do enjoy a fair amount of freedom in Kuwait. The problem has been the Sharia court. They took the law into their own hands".
But he is not uncritical of the Government, which retained Mr Hussein's passport when he changed his name in 1993 at the time of his conversion.
"They've said: Robert is free to travel. But he has not got a passport so he cannot," said Mr Windsor.