Kuwait: Torture and ill-treatment of Mr. Al-Dhafeery

Mr. Adel Al-Aqel Salem Dhafeery, aged 27 and living in Al-Jahra, Al-Ouyoun, Kuwait, was arrested May 22 in 2008 around 17 hours in Al-Jahra while travelling from his home in his vehicle. He was deliberately and violently bumped by a black police vehicle.

Many officers, armed and wearing balaclavas, have then violently pulled him out of his damaged vehicle, beaten him, tied his hands and feet and blindfolded him before driving him to premises of the State Security. The scene happened on public roads and observed by many witnesses.

Mr. Al-Dhafeery relates that once he arrived at the headquarters of the State Security, agents kept him blindfolded, with bound feet and hands, and then photographed him and took his fingerprints, yet without presenting him with any charges nor informing him about the reasons of his arrest. He was then put in a cell.

At nightfall, he underwent an initial interrogation, accused of having given a pittance of 105 dinars to needy families in Kuwait, which he denied stating that if he did, it would be a noble action to give money to needy people.

The questioning took place while he was still blindfolded, with his hands tied behind his back and his feet tied as well. During that time he was severly beaten. He was afterwards returned, at a late hour of the night, into his cell.

The next day at about sunset, torture sessions resumed, with a new accusation, that of having known a person who would have been responsible for sending young men to Afghanistan. Mr. Al-Dhafeery replied that he knew the person in question but that this person had never sent anybody in Afghanistan or elsewhere. The torture session continued throughout the night until dawn.

Mr. Al-Dhafeery reported that during the interrogation, he suffered the torment of iced water and was beaten with sticks on the soles of his feet. When his feet were swollen, his torturers asked him to move his lower limbs, for, it seems, to prevent blood from clotting. They have also asked him to run, blindfolded and hands and feet tied, in a long corridor until he was unable to walk due to fatigue and pain.

He was forced to remain standing for several hours despite his condition, his cries of pain and its supplications. Only when he started experiencing breathing difficulties and that his condition was deteriorating dangerously he was allowed to sit while continuing to be interrogated.

The sessions of interrogation and torture, including psychological torture, continued the next day by threats of "disappearing definitively without anybody ever knowing what happened to him" or "decay years in prison without trial and without anybody informed of his whereabouts". He was then placed in a icy room still under threats and insults for several hours.

The same day, Saturday, May 24, 2008, at 19:00 M. Al-Dhafeery was presented before the Attorney General, who asked him about the 105 dinars alms.

When he complained to the judge about the torture he suffered and showed visible traces of abuse, he has denied the right to register a complaint and his statements were not taken into account. The judge refused to require a medical expertise as requested by the victim but ordered Mr. Al-Dhafeery remains in custody for 15 more days "for the purposes of the inquiry."

Mr. Al-Dhafeery is convinced that this detention has been ordered to remove the traces of torture.

Indeed, after this period, he was released on bail.

In the wake of his release, Mr. Al-Dhafeery insisted that a medical certificate be prepared to see the traces of torture that had not yet completely disappeared, and was issued a handwritten certificate on a form of the Investigation Directorate of the Ministry of Interior, entitled "Preliminary Medical Report" dated 22/06/1448 (Hijri calendar - corresponding to 26 June 2008) and a doctor's unreadable signature and a stamp with the words " Al-Jahoud Surgery Hospital".

It is noteworthy that this examination took place one month and 4 days after his arrest.

One can read in the medical certificate that:
"Adel Al-Aqel Dhafeery suffered a car accident two weeks ago. The review has demonstrated the existence:
- traces of bruises in the right foot
- a haematoma on the right knee
- All due attention was granted."

It is also noteworthy that the doctor refused to take into account his statements concerning the date and circumstances of his arrest and torture he suffered during his interrogations merely referring to "a car accident ".

The case of Salem Adel Al-Aqel Dhafeery is not an isolated situation. This practice tends to become widespread in recent years in Kuwait under the pretext of the fight against terrorism.

Kuwait is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (May 21, 1996) and the Convention against Torture (March 08, 1996).

For more information or an interview, please contact media@alkarama.org (Dir: +41 22 734 1008).