c. 1996 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)-Five years after the Gulf War, politicians and human-rights groups from the United States and other Western-allied nations are urging the government of Kuwait to intervene in an unprecedented apostasy case against a Kuwaiti convert from Islam to Christianity.

On Wednesday (April 17), a legal hearing is scheduled in Kuwait City to determine what court has jurisdiction to hear apostasy charges against Hussein Qambar Ali, 44, a Kuwaiti citizen who converted to Christianity two years ago. Some observers say the case will be an important test for the extent of religious freedom in the moderate Sunni nation.

Hussein, who has taken the Christian name Robert, made his conversion to Christianity public in December during a legal battle with his ex-wife over whether he should be allowed to visit their two children.

In interviews with local newspapers including the English language Arab Times, Hussein alleged that his wife had divorced him and was preventing him from seeing his children because he had adopted Christianity.

After the interviews were published, three lawyers filed a private suit against Hussein, charging him with apostasy-abandoning Islam, the majority religion in Kuwait.

At a March 6 hearing in a Shi’a branch of the Sharia (Islamic law) Family Court, Hussein argued that his case should be heard in a civil court because his constitutional rights to religious freedom are being challenged.

In a letter to Kuwait’s head of state, Amir Jabir al-Ahmad al-Jabir Al Sabath, a bipartisan group of 15 members of the U.S. Congress expressed”profound concern”about Hussein’s case.”It is our hope that Mr. Hussein will enjoy his full religious rights as a citizen of Kuwait, and that his religious freedom will be respected and protected,”the letter stated.

In a separate letter to the Embassy of Kuwait in Washington, Rep. Herbert Batemen (R-Va.) reminded Kuwaiti officials of the close relationship between the United States and Kuwait.”I was steadfast in my support for the use of American military and economic power to liberate your country following its invasion by Iraq in August 1990,”Bateman wrote.”The American people will not support their government continuing to maintain the kind of relationship our two countries currently enjoy if citizens of Kuwait are persecuted and their lives threatened because of their religious beliefs.” Hussein’s case has generated much publicity throughout the Persian Gulf. He has gone into hiding after several public death threats were issued against him.”I am afraid to go home,”he told RNS in a telephone interview arranged by local friends.”Apostasy in the Islamic world is serious.” Hussein said that he has secretly been a Christian for nearly two years. He decided to go public about his conversion after his former wife and local officials consistently refused to obey a court order allowing him weekly visits with his children, Hussein said.”I came public to ask the world, `Why should I pay the heavy price because of my beliefs?'”he said. He added it has now been six months since he last saw his daughter, Najiba, 6, and his son, Taha, 4.

The Kuwaiti Constitution asserts that”freedom of belief is absolute.”While the constitution acknowledges that Sharia is the”main source”for all law, human rights groups report that Kuwait is not as strict as other Gulf States-particularly Saudi Arabia-in applying some Sharia tenets. In some Islamic societies, apostasy is officially a capital crime. That is not the case in Kuwait, however.

Lawyers bringing the case against Hussein are seeking to strip him of various civil rights such as the right to inheritance and custody of his children.

Salah Alsaif, press attache at the Kuwaiti Embassy in Washington, said he expected the Ministry of Justice soon to issue an official statement on the case. He emphasized that the apostasy case is being pushed forward by private citizens, and not the Kuwaiti government.”The constitution is clear. It says there is freedom of belief,”Alsaif said.”There is no prejudice from the government, but I can’t guarantee what individuals are going to do if they take action against him.” Alsaif acknowledged that this apostasy case is”unprecedented”in modern Kuwait.

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A spokesman at the State Department Bureau of Labor, Human Rights and Democracy declined to comment about specific diplomatic efforts on behalf of Hussein. However, the spokesman said,”We are very aware of this case and are monitoring it very closely.” In Great Britain, at least two members of Parliament, David Alton and Michael Alison, have expressed their concern to Kuwaiti officials.

The Jubilee Campaign, a British-based human rights group, has raised Hussein’s case as well.”The consequences of a successful prosecution against Hussein Qambar would be dire,”asserted a Jubilee statement.”If successful, this prosecution would likely … have a very negative effect on the freedom of religious belief in Kuwait.”(END OPTIONAL TRIM)

In his interview with RNS, Hussein agreed that his case will have implications for the human rights of all Kuwaitis.”Many Kuwaitis are waiting to see what is going to happen to me,”he said.”Many Kuwaiti Christians are afraid to come forward because they are afraid to be killed or to be homeless like me, an alien in my own hometown,”he said.

About 90 percent of Kuwaitis are Muslim. Most Christians, who number around 5 percent, are expatriates temporarily working in the Gulf state, according to Operation World, a handbook on Christian missions.

Prominent Islamic scholar Khalid Duran, senior fellow at the Institute for International Studies in Washington and editor of the quarterly journal TransState Islam, said the Hussein case is being closely followed in the Islamic world because conversion is”a very, very sensitive point.” Duran asserted that more Christians convert to Islam than vice versa. However, he said that in recent Islamist literature, there has been”a spate”of articles about Christian missionary activities.”Our fundamentalists are very nervous,”he said.”Christianization seems to haunt them. … It’s a question of power and strength.” Duran said that because Kuwait has”freedom of expression, comparatively speaking,”cases like Hussein’s are given media coverage while in places such as”Syria, where there is a dictatorship, we don’t hear anything that is going on over there.” Hussein, a businessman, said he has been forced to represent himself at this week’s hearing. He said no Kuwaiti lawyer has been willing to take his case because of the controversial nature of the charges. “I want to live a normal life like other Kuwaiti citizens,”he said.”I found my God somewhere else. Why should I pay the price for it?”

MJP END LAWTON