KUWAIT CITY
\nKuwait\u2019s constitutional court has overturned a law that criminalised \u201cimitation of the opposite sex\u201d and was used to prosecute transgender people.
\nThe Gulf state\u2019s parliament amended Article 198 of the penal code in 2007 to make the offence punishable by up to one year in prison and a fine.
\nBut Wednesday\u2019s court ruling said the amendment violated the constitution.
\nAmnesty International called the development \u201ca major breakthrough for transgender rights in the region\u201d.
\nLynn Maalouf, the human rights group\u2019s deputy Middle East director, said the law was \u201cdeeply discriminatory, overly vague and never should have been accepted into law in the first place\u201d.
\n\u201cThe Kuwaiti authorities must now ensure that Article 198 is repealed in its entirety,\u201d she added. \u201cThey must also immediately halt arbitrary arrests of transgender people and drop all charges and convictions brought against them under this transphobic law.\u201d
\nShe called for the immediate release of Maha al-Mutairi, a 40-year-old transgender woman who was jailed and fined under the law.
\nHer lawyer, Ibtissam al-Enezi, told Human Rights Watch at the time that the court had used her social media videos as evidence to convict her on the grounds that she was wearing make-up, speaking about her transgender identity, allegedly making \u201csexual advances\u201d, and criticising the government.
\nIn June 2020, Ms Mutairi was summoned by authorities after she posted videos on Snapchat accusing police officers of raping and beating her during a seven-month period of detention in a men\u2019s prison in 2019.
\nMs Mutairi\u2019s case sparked an international outcry and prompted Kuwaiti lawyer Ali al-Aryan to file a lawsuit requesting that the amendment to Article 198 be repealed. Kuwait\u2019s penal code still criminalises sexual relations outside marriage, and punishes consensual same-sex relations between men by up to seven years in prison.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KUWAIT CITY Kuwait\u2019s constitutional court has overturned a law that criminalised \u201cimitation of the opposite sex\u201d and was used to prosecute transgender people. The Gulf state\u2019s parliament amended Article 198 of the penal code in 2007 to make the offence punishable by up to one year in prison and a fine. But Wednesday\u2019s court ruling […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-245259","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n