The just-ended Kuwait Book Fair attracted a lot of unwelcome international attention this year thanks to what were often wildly irrational censorship decisions resulting in 700 books banned in 2018 and over 4,000 books banned in the last few years. But has that censorship ban just been overturned by the judiciary?
One report from Alqabas suggests that might be the case, but the article is short on detail, and almost 48 hours later no other news channels are carrying an updated version of this story.
Given the international outcry when the story originally broke of the extreme level of censorship, and the book cemetery that was briefly put in place besides the fair (quickly removed by the authorities), images of which went viral on the internet, it seems implausible a climb-down by the Kuwaiti authorities would still only be reported by one news journal ( a couple of others have repeated the Alqabas story but not added anything new).
If anyone reading this has seen any reports suggesting the Kuwaiti authorities have indeed lifted the ban, do get in touch.
