Freedom's gate gets new guard
KUWAIT CITY, May 4: The official gazette 'Kuwait Al-Youm' has published Decree-Law No. 64/2025 that amends Article 91 of Penal Code No. 16/1960 and grants the Public Prosecutor the authority to issue release orders for convicted individuals and to revoke those orders upon the request of the Minister of Interior or their representative. The decree states:
Article One: Article 91 of the aforementioned Penal Code shall be replaced with the following text: 'The Public Prosecutor is authorized to issue a release order upon the request of the Minister of Interior or his representative, based on the recommendation of a committee formed by a decision of the Minister of Interior. The committee shall include representatives from the Public Prosecution and the Ministry of Interior and shall be responsible for reviewing release requests. It must ensure that the convict's conduct during imprisonment demonstrates genuine rehabilitation and that their release does not pose a threat to public security. The release order may be revoked by a decision of the Public Prosecutor, upon the request of the Minister of Interior or his representative, and based on the recommendation of the same committee mentioned in the previous paragraph.'
Article Two: The ministers, each within their respective jurisdiction, shall implement this Decree-Law. It shall be published in the official gazette and shall come into effect on the date of its publication. It is worth noting that before this amendment, Article 91 stated: 'The Public Prosecutor has the authority to issue and revoke release orders.'
Meanwhile, the official gazette 'Kuwait Alyoum' published Decree No. 73/2025 regarding the promotion of 31 judicial agents of the Court of First Instance to the rank of 'Counselor' at the Court of Appeals. In other news, Decree-Law No. 63/2025 was recently issued to suspend the provisions of law No. 12/1963 concerning the internal regulations of the National Assembly.
Article 1 of the decree, which was published in a special edition of the official gazette 'Kuwait Al-Youm', states: 'With the exception of what is stipulated in Article 178 of Law No. 12/1963, the provisions of this law, and all decisions issued pursuant to it, shall be suspended. This includes, in particular, the decisions and provisions governing the affairs of the employees of the General Secretariat of the National Assembly. The suspension shall remain in effect until either the end of the period specified in Article 2 of the Amiri Order on the Suspension of Certain Articles of the Constitution, or the election of the first National Assembly following the effective date of this Decree-Law, whichever comes first.'
Article 2 stipulates the following: 'The provisions governing the General Secretariat of the National Assembly shall apply from the effective date of this Decree-Law until the reactivation of the provisions of Law No. 12/1963, as stipulated in Decree-Law No. 15/1979 and the referenced decree issued in 1979.'
Article 3 of the decree states: 'Any provision that contradicts the provisions of this Decree-Law shall be repealed.' The explanatory memorandum to the decree clarified that the Amiri Order issued on May 10, 2024, dissolved the National Assembly, rendering the provisions of Law No. 12/1963 inoperative and inapplicable. Consequently, the civilian employees of the General Secretariat of the National Assembly were transferred to the Council of Ministers pursuant to Article 178 of the law, and were no longer performing duties that would justify the bonuses granted under Resolutions No. 26/2009 and No. 46/2014.
Accordingly, it became necessary to unify the employment regulations applied to all employees in any entity, whether originally appointed to that entity or seconded to it, ensuring equal treatment and preventing any undue advantage. In this regard, constitutional expert Dr. Muhammad Al-Faili affirmed the importance of striking a balance between the objectives of newly issued legislation and the rights of those affected by it. He stressed the need to uphold the principle of legal security, particularly when enacting decisions that directly impact the status of employees or the entities concerned. In a statement to the daily, Dr. Al- Faili stated that it is necessary to grant those targeted by the legislation a transitional period to adjust their status before the law takes effect, or at the very least, to implement it gradually.
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