KUWAIT: A war of words has broken out between Egyptian and Kuwaiti media, stirring anger among citizens from both nations. The mudslinging started last month after reports surfaced that two Egyptian expatriates in Kuwait were allegedly tortured after being arrested by the Kuwait Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Both the Egyptian and the Kuwaiti media have traded insults. Egyptian newspapers and talk shows have repeatedly discussed the torture case. The issue was also not less discussed in Kuwait, and the Kuwaiti government has taken the necessary procedures to bring the CID officials responsible for the torture to justice. Kuwait media, in turn, has degraded Egyptians in several articles.
However, what's happening now in Kuwaiti and Egyptian newspapers has stirred anger and anxiety in both communities. In the latest incident, a Kuwaiti writer and an Egyptian writer traded insults on Sept 2.
In Al-Watan newspaper, Fouad Al-Hashem disapproved of the Egyptian media's coverage of the torture case where he claimed that they slammed Kuwait in most of their articles.
In Al-Hashem's response, he stated "Egyptian writers fiercely attacked Kuwait as if they suddenly discovered that the 'Egyptian citizen has dignity'...," basing his comment on some torture incidents that took place in Egyptian prisons which as Al-Hashem believes does not give the right to Egyptians to complain about what happened to the two Egyptians recently tortured in Kuwait.
On the same day, Egyptian writer Nasrat Sadek wrote an article in the Egyptian newspaper, Al-Masry Al-Youm, titled "Egyptians taught them.. and they paid them back in torture". In the article, Sadek slams Kuwaitis and states "they (Kuwaitis) think that they have enslaved Egyptians that went to Kuwait to increase their income with dignity,... and they (Egyptians) participated in Kuwait's development."
There are about 400,000 Egyptians living in Kuwait. Kuwait leading businessmen also have massive investments in Egypt and several Kuwaiti students study in Egyptian universities.
Such words might not affect the formal political and economic relations between both countries but they have indeed caused severe damage to the Egyptian community in Kuwait who are outraged by such a statement, for every human being regardless of his/her nationality has a dignity and is worthy of respect.
A source in the Egyptian Embassy told Kuwait Times that they have received tens of calls from Egyptian residents in Kuwait who felt insulted and provoked by Al-Hashem's statements.
Mohammed Hussein, an Egyptian in his late thirties who was brought up in Kuwait, told Kuwait Times, "What's happening lately is cheap journalism from both the Kuwaiti and Egyptian sides. I was shocked by Al-Hashem's column because I believe that his views are moderate in addition to the fact that he actually loves Egypt and Egyptians." Hussein added, "Egyptians are now stereotyped as criminals in Kuwaiti newspapers, and whenever there is a crime that is committed by an Egyptian the nationality would get published although earlier it would just come out as a crime committed by an Arab citizen."
Egyptian Parliament Member and editor-in-chief of El Esboa newspaper, Mustafa Bakri disapproved of Al-Hashem's column and in turn raised a Parliamentary question to the Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit about the column that Bakri said degrades Egyptians and is a damage to their reputation. Bakri stated that Al-Hashem has abused the press freedom by slamming Egypt and its citizens, which is a matter that must be taken seriously by Egypt's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
By Eman Goma
© Kuwait Times 2007
