Shia Islam constitutes a significant minority in Kuwait.[1][2] In 2001, the US Department of State reported that there were 300,000 Shia Kuwaiti citizens and 820,000 Kuwaiti citizens in total thus Shias formed 36.5% of the Kuwaiti citizen population.[3] In 2002, the US Department of State reported that Shia Kuwaitis formed 30-40% of Kuwait's citizen population,[1] noting there were 525,000 Sunni citizens and 855,000 Kuwaiti citizens in total (61% Sunnis, 39% Shias).[1] In 2004, there were 300,000-350,000 Shia Kuwaiti citizens and 913,000 Kuwaiti citizens in total.[4] The Strategic Studies Institute reported that they constitute 40% of the population in 2008.[2]

Most Shia Kuwaitis are of Iranian descent.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] Contrary to the expectations of the Iraqi government, Shia Kuwaitis founded an armed resistance movement during Saddam Hussein's occupation.[14][15] Many Kuwaitis arrested, tortured and executed during the occupation bore Shia names.[16] The Kuwaiti resistance's casualty rate exceeded that of the coalition military forces and hostages.[17]

According to NGOs and human rights organisations, the Shia community face marginalisation in social, economic, and political fields, including "glass ceiling" discrimination in employment. Shia are under-represented in all levels of government and parliament.[18] Kuwaiti government policy, on paper, allegedly does not discriminate citizens on a sectarian basis.[19] Several female MPs, including Rola Dashti, have been Shia.[20]

The International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims and United Nations criticized the Kuwaiti authorities' treatment of the so-called "Abdali Cell".[21][22][23][24] In November 2021, Kuwait arbitrarily detained eight elderly Shia Kuwaiti men without any charges.[25][26][27][28]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "International Religious Freedom Report". US State Department. 2002.
  2. ^ a b "The Evolution of U. S.-Turkish Relations in a Transatlantic Context" (PDF). Strategic Studies Institute. p. 87. Shiites comprise 60 percent of the population in Bahrain, 40 percent in Kuwait, 14 percent in Saudi Arabia, and 35 percent in Lebanon.
  3. ^ "International Religious Freedom Report". US State Department. 2001.
  4. ^ "International Religious Freedom Report". US State Department. 2004.
  5. ^ Butenschøn, Nils August; Davis, Uri; Hassassian, Manuel Sarkis (2000). Citizenship and the State in the Middle East: Approaches and Applications. Syracuse University Press. p. 190. ISBN 9780815628293.
  6. ^ Potter, Lawrence G. (June 2014). Sectarian Politics in the Persian Gulf. Oxford University Press. p. 135. ISBN 9780190237967.
  7. ^ Louër, Laurence (2011). Transnational Shia Politics: Religious and Political Networks in the Gulf. Hurst. pp. 46–55. ISBN 9781849042147.
  8. ^ Michael Herb (1999). Ethnic Conflict and International Politics in the Middle East (PDF). University Press of Florida. p. 164. ISBN 9780813016870. Archived from the original on 8 December 2013. Unlike the Shi'a of Saudi Arabia or Bahrain, the Kuwaiti Shi'a mostly are of Persian descent.
  9. ^ Hertog, Steffen; Luciani, Giacomo; Valeri, Marc (2013). Business Politics in the Middle East. Hurst Publishers. p. 71. ISBN 9781849042352.
  10. ^ Ende, Werner; Steinbach, Udo (2002). Islam in the World Today: A Handbook of Politics, Religion, Culture, and Society. Cornell University Press. p. 533. ISBN 0801464897.
  11. ^ Rivka Azoulay (2020). Kuwait and Al-Sabah: Tribal Politics and Power in an Oil State. Bloomsbury. p. 115. ISBN 9781838605063.
  12. ^ Mohammad E. Alhabib (2010). The Shia Migration from Southwestern Iran to Kuwait: Push-Pull Factors during the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries (Thesis). Georgia State University.
  13. ^ "Political Activism Among the Shi'ah of Kuwait" (PDF). J.E. Peterson. 2009. p. 1.
  14. ^ "Saddam's Security Apparatus During the Invasion of Kuwait and the Kuwaiti Resistance". The Journal of Intelligence History. Winter 2003. pp. 74–75.
  15. ^ "Two ethnicities, three generations: Phonological variation and change in Kuwait" (PDF). Newcastle University. 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-10-19. Retrieved 2013-06-10.
  16. ^ Butenschon, Nils A.; Davis, Uri; Hassassian, Manuel (2000). Citizenship and the State in the Middle East: Approaches and Applications. Syracuse University Press. p. 190. ISBN 9780815628293.
  17. ^ "The Kuwaiti Resistance". Middle East Forum. March 1995.
  18. ^ "Shi'ites lose more than half their seats in Kuwait polls as liberals make gains". 28 Jul 2013.
  19. ^ "Kuwaiti Shia: Government Policies, Societal Cleavages, and the Non-Factor of Iran" (PDF). George Washington University. 2011.
  20. ^ "Interview with Dr. Rola Dashti, Member of the Kuwaiti Parliament". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 9 March 2010.
  21. ^ "IFEG expert issues criticism of national investigation in the Al-Abdali Cell case". International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims. Archived from the original on 2021-03-08.
  22. ^ "Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Opinions adopted by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention at its eighty-eighth session, 24–28 August 2020 Opinion No. 54/2020 concerning Zuhair Abdulhadi Haj al-Mahmeed (Kuwait)*" (PDF). OHCHR.
  23. ^ "KUWAIT SUBMISSION TO THE UN COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE 59TH SESSION, 7 NOVEMBER-7 DECEMBER 2016" (PDF). OHCHR. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-12-22.
  24. ^ "Zuhair Al Mahmeed sentenced to 15 years in prison in Kuwait following an unfair trial". MENA Rights. 15 August 2015.
  25. ^ "Kuwait: Authorities must release arbitrarily detained individuals". Amnesty International. 14 December 2021.
  26. ^ "Arbitrary detentions, interrogation of detainees must stop in Kuwait". Human Lives Human Rights. 15 December 2021.
  27. ^ "Kuwait: Chairman and members of charitable committee arbitrarily arrested and imprisoned without charge". Gulf Centre for Human Rights.
  28. ^ "Kuwait: State Security Bureau and Central Prison administration commit massive human rights violations". Gulf Centre for Human Rights.
  29. ^ Dénes Gazsi. "The Persian Dialects of the Ajam in Kuwait" (PDF). The University of Iowa.
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