“I'm sure glad we were able to liberate Kuwait and make it a free country!”- Michael Moore
Reporters Without Borders has condemned the Kuwaiti Information ministry's decision on 1 August to ban screening of Michael Moore's documentary “Fahrenheit 9/11” and urged the authorities to lift the interdiction.
“The Kuwaiti authorities are free to disagree with Michael Moore's political preferences but it is regrettable that they are using the weapon of censorship to deprive the Kuwaiti public of the Information and views contained in his film”, the organisation said. “This ban is all the more damaging to Kuwait's image as, so far, it is the only country in the region to take such a decision.”
“The Kuwaiti authorities are free to disagree with Michael Moore's political preferences but it is regrettable that they are using the weapon of censorship to deprive the Kuwaiti public of the Information and views contained in his film”, the organisation said. “This ban is all the more damaging to Kuwait's image as, so far, it is the only country in the region to take such a decision.”
The Information ministry's cinema and production supervisor, Abdel-Aziz Bou Dastour, said the film insulted the Saudi royal family. “We have a law that prohibits insulting friendly nations and ties between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are special”, he said.
He also said Moore's film “criticised America's policy on invading Iraq and this was tantamount to criticising Kuwait for [what it did] to liberate Iraq ... [and] would have angered Kuwaitis.”
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He also said Moore's film “criticised America's policy on invading Iraq and this was tantamount to criticising Kuwait for [what it did] to liberate Iraq ... [and] would have angered Kuwaitis.”
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