By Joseph DeCaro, BosNewsLife International Correspondent
- Death penalty introduced for blasphemy in Kuwait.
KUWAIT CITY, KUWAIT (BosNewsLife)– Kuwait’s parliament provisionally passed amendments to its penal code Thursday, April 19, requiring the death penalty for anyone who curses Allah, the Prophet Mohammad, or his many wives.
Forty-six parliamentarians voted for the amendments: a second and final vote was expected to take place in two weeks.
It was not immediately clear what impact the blasphemy would have on Christians in the Middle East nation.
However earlier a Kuwaiti parliamentarian had also called for a ban on the construction of new churches, BosNewsLife reported in March.
DEATH PENALTY
Shi’ite parliamentarians also demanded the death penalty for anyone who curses their 12 revered Imams,but the Sunni-dominated parliament rejected it.
The vote to stiffen penalties for religious crimes comes after authorities arrested Shi’ite Hamad al-Naqi last month for allegedly cursing Mohammad, his wives and some of his companions on Twitter.
Sectarian tensions often arise between Sunni and Shi’ia, who comprise about one third of Kuwait’s more than one million Muslims.
