Kuwaiti Police Defend Ban On Women’s Yoga Retreat

A controversial retreat for women in Kuwait was blocked because organisers had not obtained the necessary official permits, police said.

The event was due to start on Thursday in a desert area, but it was banned after a lawmaker condemned the plan as an “alien practice in the Kuwaiti society,” local media reported.

The event’s organiser Eman Al Hussainan, a TV presenter and a yoga instructor, said she had lodged a complaint with public prosecution against the Interior Ministry’s decision to stop the women-only trip.

A Source at the Interior Ministry, in charge of domestic security in Kuwait, said the event had been stopped because organisers had not got the required permits from government bodies, Al Rai newspaper reported.

“The Interior Ministry is an executive body and does not issue permits for such events,” the source said.

“The agencies responsible for issuing the yoga events are the municipality and the ministries of information and health,” a government source told Al Rai.

Critics have condemned prohibition of the trip as assault on freedoms in Kuwait.

The National Democratic Alliance accused the government of weakness in face of “parliamentary endeavours to hijack the state from the civil and constitutional system to religious radicalism”.

The alliance held Prime Minister Sabah Al Khalid responsible for what it said government ministers’ concessions to “blackmail by MPs of political Islamism”.

Women activists have called for holding a protest on Monday against what they called “MPs’ guardianship” on the right to exercise activities.

 

 

 

SOURCE  GULFNEWS

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