Fadhl said he chose to appeal against that constitutional amendment in the constitutional court, the highest court in the country and whose rulings are final, and not through the National Assembly because “he did not want to embarrass my colleagues and enter into a dispute of personal views”. If the challenge is accepted, it will allow non-Muslims to become Kuwaiti citizens. But if rejected, the status quo will be maintained.
Fadhl is not a member of any political party but he is an independent, sometimes pro-government, liberal-secular lawmaker who became a member of parliament in July last year. He however was elected twice before but both assemblies were scrapped by the constitutional court. The lawmaker said the article that bans non-Muslims from becoming Kuwaitis is a “stigma on the Kuwaiti constitution and laws”, adding that those who added it to the constitution in 1981 do not deserve to become members of parliament who took the oath to respect the constitution and laws. He also stressed that the presence of the article in the Kuwaiti constitution defies the morals of the Kuwaiti people and their principles.
The Kuwaiti population of 1.27 million is predominantly Muslim, with a Sunni majority and Shiite minority. But there are around 200-250 Kuwaiti Christians who were naturalized before the introduction of that article. Most of them hail from Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon. The constitutional court is not expected to rule on the case before several months. It has to be seen first whether the court will accept the challenge or not, and whether it will agree to rule on an issue related to citizenship.
