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Hi everyone, my name is Fajer and I’m a legal counsel at a local law firm. One of Mark’s forum users had a law related question and he thought it might be a good idea to get me involved on the blog with law related posts starting with the questions his forum user had. I’ll post the users problem first followed by my response below it.

THE PROBLEM
My brother was accused of shoplifting a packet of AAA batteries at a supermarket. He was leaving the supermarket when the detector at the exit started buzzing and they found the battery pack on him. It was by accident and he tried to explain that to them but he was arrested, booked and slapped with a robbery case as well as a travel ban.

My questions are the following:
1) What is the law here towards shoplifting?
2) Is it justifiable to send a guy to jail and keep him there for more than 24 hours without a case?
3) I heard from a friend of mine supermarkets usually don’t get first time offenders arrested and just end up paying a penalty instead is that true?
4) Is it possible to friendly settle this case out of court?

THE RESPONSE
The answer to your situation is not very straight forward but I will try to go through your questions and explain everything to you.

1) What is the law here towards shoplifting?
There is no specific law in Kuwait towards shoplifting but the act of shoplifting falls under the crime of robbery. The official English translation of the Kuwaiti criminal law describes robbery in Article 217 as “A person is guilty of robbery, if he embezzles movable property, owned by a third party, with the intent to acquire it” … ahhh lawyers and their confusing legal sentences… so wait lets break things down.

In every law, for any country, all crimes consist of two parts:

Point here is that you have to have intent to steal to be charged with robbery. If your brother forgot to pay for the batteries by accident, the verdict should be innocent but to get to that verdict you need to prove “Mens Rea”.

2) Is it justifiable to send a guy to jail and keep him there for more than 24 hours without a case?
According to the new criminal procedures law (and without getting into detail), the police officers have the right to hold someone up to 48hrs (it used to be longer) if they are accused of a crime. This would not be in prison but in a police station with the aim of starting an initial investigation before going to court. Their initial investigation might be to ask a few questions, find evidence and to figure out what laws apply.

3) I heard from a friend of mine supermarkets usually don’t get first time offenders arrested and just end up paying a penalty instead is that true?
Article 143 states that it is a crime to not report a robbery so the Supermarket was abiding by the law when they reported the crime to the police. Now some supermarkets might be more forgiving and let it slide, but, “letting it slide” is a crime on their part and so I could understand why some supermarkets wouldn’t want to let it slide.

An interesting fact, if you’re inside a supermarket and you pick up a chocolate bar, eat it and then leave the supermarket without paying for it, then you have not “taken the property from the possession of a third party” (as the law article goes on to define embazzlment) therefore you have not moved the object from the ownership of the supermarket and so is not defined as robbery. This definition caused a lot of problems in Kuwait because people were using services and not paying for them or eating at restaurants and not paying for the meal so another law was passed where it said that this action was not a crime… but you had to pay a fine of KD75 plus the cost of the service or food you ate. So most likely that’s the penalty you heard about.

4) Is it possible to friendly settle this case out of court?
No it is not possible to settle robbery cases in Kuwait. Some crimes in Kuwait like robbery are considered to be against the community and not just the supermarket and so one individual does not have the right to settle it. The criminal court needs to look into the case.

So I know you didn’t ask me this, but…

5) What is the punishment for robbery in Kuwait?
Article 219 of the criminal states the punishment as being up to 2 years of jail time or/and a fee of up to 2000 Rupees (yes the law is that old that the fees are still in Indian Rupees).

So this means that a judge can ask the accused to go to jail for 2 weeks or 2 months or 6 months and 3 days just as long as it is not more than 2 years. Or he can make you pay 100 rupees or 1500 rupees. He could also decide no punishment or both a jail time and fine. The judges have a lot of power here.

But the maximum isn’t always 2 years because Article 221 was added and changed it to 3 years for certain situations:

Hope the above helps you out. One more thing I forgot to mention, the cost of the item doesn’t matter so a packet of AAA batteries or a gold necklace are treated the same.

Fajer Ahmed – Legal Counsel
Have a Kuwait law related question? Email me at [email protected]

The legal opinions expressed in this post are those of the author Fajer. Opinions expressed by Mark or any other writer on mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com are those of the individual’s and in no way reflect Fajer’s opinion.

I had no idea who Dru Hill were until a few moments ago (thank you Wikipedia). Drul Hill are an R&B group and they’re going to be performing in Kuwait this summer. The event is a dinner at The Crowne Plaza Hotel that starts at 7PM and ends at 1AM with Dru Hill starting performance at 8PM.

Tickets start from KD30 for the regular seats all the way up to KD65 for VIP seating. If you’re interested or looking for more information click [Here]

Thanks Burhan

Below is a kinda long but interesting write up by a friend of mine currently working in the medical field. It’s related to the “Kuwait to segregate medical care” post from last week:

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Its not a sprint, its a marathon

We need help. Everyone can agree that healthcare in Kuwait should be paramount. We need to have a healthcare system we can be proud of and confident in. I need to feel proud of where I work and the job I do. The recent lobby towards segregated healthcare for none emergent cases is just one more example of a quick fix for many failed and saddening endeavours that we as a profession are at least partly responsible for.

From the outset I doubt that anyone working currently in Kuwaiti healthcare is evil or bad or totally and completely corrupt. In fact, I think many of us started our careers inspired and full of promise but were met by challenges that we cannot possibly overcome. At a healthcare system level, we need to refine our goals and find our way towards something more efficient and dare I say it welcoming to people.

How many people reading this have a family doctor?

I doubt many of you do. This may be because you are perfectly healthy but it’s probably because you show up at the emergency room if you need anything because you have no confidence in your local poly clinic or mustawsif. The fact of the matter is that I wouldn’t either.

We need to re-create the family doctors as the go to guy or girl for all things non emergency and as the primary referring physician (small bruises, vaccines, high blood pressure, diabetes control, breast and colon cancer screening). This will mean two big changes. The first is that one doctor or centre will have all your medical history and that from now on you won’t show up to the emergency room unless it is an actual emergency, otherwise the emergency department will refuse to see you (this is the norm in the US, Canada and the UK NHS, it is becoming the norm in many south east asian countries gradually as well). More importantly we need to equip our poly clinics and family doctors with information and facilities such as x-ray facilities, ultrasound and turn a rundown office into an actual treatment facility. We also need to mandate a minimum amount of courses to be taken by these doctors so that they remain up to date in their fields (this should be true for all doctors in general come to think of it)

Provided you’ve got a referral or are trying to see a specialist, how many of you see them on time?

The way things are now, if you live in Mishref, you go to specialists in Mubarak, if you live near Adan then you are sent there. This means that the areas with the highest population end up with the longest waiting times. We need a structured dynamic referral system. I’m sure that there is some sort of solution I’m just not sure what it is. Perhaps if there was a regular update of which areas had the shortest waiting time were made available to family practitioners on a daily basis (via email). It may mean that patients will get their appointments earlier.

The problem is that I doubt that a person living in Jahra would be happy coming to Amiri for his echocardiogram even if it meant he or she would get it quicker. Having referrals to different hospital for different things would mean that you need to have all the patients data accessible across different hospitals in a sort of a cloud. Lets face it people, I’m more likely to see a giant flying saucer deliver free red velvet cupcakes at 360 than I am to see the ministry of health manage a cloud based patient filing system.

Having exhausted all efforts to get an early appointment you decided to go private, how many of you see a physician in his private practice after trying to get an early appointment in his government funded one?

Many of us have a conflict of interest when we are employed in private and public healthcare. I know colleagues who completely neglect their public healthcare patients and I know others who have no interest in private healthcare. Regardless, clear guidelines have to be set so that a physician working in the private healthcare field does not neglect his or her public healthcare practice. A bill requiring all doctors working in private healthcare to have 50% of their practice as public or pro bono might be the best solution but it’ll also mean that you would be the most hated minister of health in the history of Kuwait. (Maybe if we start with 30%, doctors are less likely to revolt)

Yesterday morning a cargo ship heading into Shuwaikh port veered off path and nearly collided with the KPC building. The cargo ship had to be pulled back out into sea by tugboats and an investigation is currently taking place into the cause of this incident.

The pictures in this post were taken by KPC employees and it kinda looks like their might have been an oil leak as well. [Source]

[YouTube]

There are two really great films I want to see this month at Cinemagic, the first is Samsara and the second is Gomorrah. I’ve been wanting to watch these two movies for sometime now but never got the time. Grave of Fireflies was supposed to show last month but the BluRay got delayed in customs and the movie Once was shown instead which I watched and thought was pretty good considering it was a musical (I hate musicals). Grave of Fireflies is now going to be shown this month instead. Check out the full film schedule below…

Thursday April 4th, 2013 at 7:30PM
SAMSARA
From the award winning director of Baraka, Samsara takes you on an incredible journey, filmed over nearly five years in twenty-five countries on five continents, and shot on seventy-millimetre film, Samsara transports us to the varied worlds of sacred grounds, disaster zones, industrial complexes, and natural wonders.

Saturday April 6th, 2013 at 7:30PM
GRAVE OF FIREFLIES
Called “one of the greatest and most powerful war films ever made” by acclaimed film critic Roger Ebert, and universally considered one of the best animated films ever made, Grave of Fireflies is a tragic film covering a young boy and his little sister’s struggle to survive in Japan during World War II.

Thursday April 11th, 2013 at 7:30PM
GOMORRAH
Winner of the Grand Prix Jury Prize at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, Gomorrah intertwines 5 separate stories of people whose lives are touched by organised crime. A harrowing look into Italy’s modern-day crime families.

Saturday April 13th, 2013 at 7:30PM
HAROLD AND MAUDE
Chosen by the AFI as one of the top ten classic American comedies of all time, and considered a huge influence on the work of Wes Anderson and Jared Hess. Young, rich, and obsessed with death, Harold finds himself changed forever when he meets lively septuagenarian Maude at a funeral.

Thursday April 18th, 2013 at 7:30PM
EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP
Holding 96% on rottentomatoes.com, the multi-award winning story of how an eccentric French shop keeper and amateur film maker attempted to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on its owner. The film contains footage of Banksy, Shephard Fairey, Invader and many of the world’s most infamous graffiti artists at work.

Saturday April 20th, 2013 at 7:30PM
FOLLOWING
Before dominating the world with The Dark Knight and Inception, and before his groundbreaking independent mind-bender Memento, Christopher Nolan made a small film about a young writer who follows strangers for material until he meets a thief who takes him under his wing. A rare debut from a fascinating filmmaker.

Thursday April 25th to Saturday April 28th, 2013
THE KUWAIT INTERNATIONAL FILM RETREAT
Join us for a film festival of Kuwaiti, Regional, and International short and feature length films that we will be screening on these dates, alongside workshops, red carpet photo ops, and other film related activities. Don’t miss this one of a kind film event, and keep checking back on the official website for more details: www.kuwaitfilmretreat.com

Cinemagic Kuwait, is organizing these events as part of its efforts to contribute to the development of an internationally competitive Kuwaiti audio-visual production industry, partly by bringing the filmmakers and audiences together and by Increasing the public’s interest in – and appreciation for – the art of film-making. Cinemagic movies are screened in the old Salmiya, on the roof on top of Alghanim Electronics and LG and there is no entrance fee. Here is a link to their Facebook group [Link]

Arabian Business released their list of “The 500 Most Powerful Arabs in the World” and quite a few from Kuwait made the list including a number of women. The highest ranked Kuwaiti on the list was Mohammed Alshaya in 26th place (pictured above) while the highest Arab overall was Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed. Below are the rankings of the Arabs from Kuwait (not all are Kuwaiti):

26 – Mohammed Alshaya – MH Alshaya
51 – Ibrahim Dabdoub – National Bank of Kuwait
66 – Bader Al Kharafi – Kharafi Group
156 – Marwan Boodai – Boodai Corp
175 – Sheikha Al Bahar – National Bank of Kuwait
191 – Maha Al Ghunaim – Global Investment House
197 – Suad Al Humaidi – Landmark SAL
207 – Mohammed Husain – Equate Petrochemical Co
225 – Tarek Sultan – Agility
229 – Michel Accad – Gulf Bank
245 – Donna Sultan – KEO Consultants
261 – Faisal Al Ayyar – KIPCO
267 – Salem Al Hindi – Rotana Audio & Visual Group
275 – Omar Alghanim – Gulf Bank
282 – Mohammed Al-Khodairi – Kuwait Finance House
295 – Farouk Al Zanki – Kuwait Petroleum Corporation
302 – Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf – Cordoba Initiative
324 – Rashid Yaqoub Al Nafisi – Al Mazaya Holding
327 – Sheikha Hessa Saad Al Sabah – Council for Arab Businesswomen
328 – Saad Al Barrak – Zain
329 – Sara Akbar – Kuwait Energy
377 – Maha Hussein – Petrochemical Industries
390 – Ghosson Al Khaled – ACICO
399 – Hamad Al Falah – Kuwait Airways
411 – Ibrahim Al Qadhi – Boubyan Bank
414 – Adnan Al Musallam – The Investment Dar
444 – Naif Al Mutawa – The 99
478 – Ghaida Al Khaled – ACICO Construction
492 – Fawaz Al Hasawi – Nottingham Forest FC

For the full list click [Here]

Over the weekend I had a spontaneous trip to Prague and had like 30 minutes to book an airline ticket and hotel and I have to say I lucked out with my hotel. I ended up staying at MOODs Hotel which is a pretty trendy boutique hotel located around 15 minutes walking distance from the old Prague town and markets.

I had booked a superior room for 3 nights but on arrival I found out I had been upgraded to a deluxe room. Most likely it’s because I had booked less than 24 hours before arrival and so my first night stay was costing more than the other two nights combined. When I first got to the hotel I was really impressed with the way the lobby looked. They had some interesting textured walls, modern furniture and a trippy light show going on with their logo. The hotel receptionist were also young and sitting behind shiny iMacs so the hotel felt very stylish right from the get go.

My room was pretty spacious with lots of closet space, dark hardwood floors, a very cool looking bathroom as well as an LED mood light system running behind my bed which I could control the color and intensity of. I also had access to free fast wifi, a pretty good breakfast buffet and best of all they hooked me up with a great driver to take me to and from the ski slopes.

If you’re planning a trip to Prague then I’d recommend this place. If I ever go back I would stay there again without a doubt. They even have duplex suite for not that much more per night. Here is a link to their [Website]

Not a lot of people might know this but back in 2003 I ran a warblog with a few a friends of mine called qHate. The blog started just as the Iraq invasion was going to take place and so we started covering life in Kuwait during that period. Since it was the anniversary of the Iraq invasion a couple of days back, here are some of my favorite posts from that blog:

Life of a Soldier in Kuwait
Pre-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Pictures of Soldiers on streets of Kuwait
The First Siren
The Gas Masks
Just a bit of fun
People shouldn’t live like this
Strange Days
My Latest Adventure
Pictures of Souq Sharq after missile attack
Wolf Blitzer

For more posts you can visit qHate [Here]

The American International School has an exhibition taking place today at the AIS Art Gallery where they will be exhibiting over 150 works including drawings, paintings, sculptures and installations. If you’re interested here are the details:

Date: Monday March 18th, 2013
Time: 6PM to 8PM
Location: American International School, Medan Hawalli

Under the change, Kuwaitis will be given priority for medical checkups at public hospitals and clinics during the morning, with foreigners only able to access doctors in the afternoon, unless it is an emergency.

Staff also will be segregated according to their nationality, with Kuwaitis working in the morning and expat doctors in the afternoon. [Source]

Even though this doesn’t apply to emergency treatment it still doesn’t make it less racist.

Isma3ni is an monthly open mic night features all types of artists from comedians and musicians to storytellers and poets. Every open mic night has 15 performers and everyone gets a 5 minute time slot. I haven’t been to any yet (they’re held inside an argeela place) but my friend went to the last two and said it was pretty entertaining. The next Isma3ni event is going to be this coming Friday. Below are the details:

Date: Friday March 22nd, 2013
Time: 7PM to 9:30PM
Ticket: 5KD, includes free drink
Location: Argeela Bar, Salmiya
Keep AUK parking lot on your right and on Salem al Mubarak Street you will see a building with a sign that says ‘DJ Spikes’ on your left. That is Amar Plaza where Argeela Bar is located

For more information visit the Isma3ni event site [Here]
Here is the link to their Facebook page [Link]

It’s pretty common to hear about expats being discriminated in Kuwait so it was interesting to read a post by yousefq8 who writes about how as a Kuwaiti he was being discriminated the whole time while apartment searching. It seems most of the places he was checking didn’t want to rent out to Kuwaitis and so he resorted to lying and talking in English to make things easier for himself. I have no idea why they would discriminate against a Kuwaiti, maybe expats don’t feel they can live comfortably when there is a Kuwaiti living next door? Not sure but you can read his post [Here]

FIVE TWELVE is the largest videogame tournament thats been hosted in Kuwait and it will be taking place next week. The participants will be competing in EA’s FIFA 13 football game and the winner of the competition will be getting KD5,000.

FIVE TWELVE are giving away 3 copies of the FIFA 13 game along with free registration to the event (usually a KD20 fee) and all you need to do to win them is leave a comment in the post below mentioning what gaming system you have. I will then randomly choose 3 winners who each will win a copy of the game and the free registration to the tournament.

For more information on the FIVE TWELVE tournament including the rules and regulations click [Here]

Rules: Only one entry per person and please make sure you use a working email since the winner will only be contacted by email. If winner doesn’t respond another winner will be randomly chosen. Winner gets to choose the console version of FIFA 13.

Update: I closed the post for commenting and using Random.org I chose three winners and one backup. The winners are: #107 vampire, #87 hansel and #14 pickles. The backup in case one of them doesn’t reply is #94 neoark25.

There is a carnival thats going to be taking place this weekend at Wahran Park in Shamiya. Other than carnival games there will also be food stalls, a talent show, a videogame competition and booths where people will be selling stuff. Here are some more details:

The Karnival
Date: March 14, 15 and 16
Time: 4PM to 11PM
Location: Wahran Park, Shamiya

This weekend there’s going to be a kids challenge fair taking place at Marina Mall in an attempt to break official Guinness World Records “In-A-Minute”. My guess is there will be various stalls with different activities which anyone can take part in trying to break a record in under a minute. The more interesting aspect for me is the fact the shortest woman in the world (pictured above) and the man with the largest feet will be at Marina Mall to take photos with.

Guiness World Records “In-A-Minute”
Location: Marina Mall
Date: March 14, 15 and 16

Update: I passed by Marina Mall and turns out the shortest woman was only there for the first day and won’t be showing up anymore. Sucks.