Dissident Spotlight: Walid al-Tabtabai
Walid al-Tabtabai was a conservative theocrat who opposed Kuwait's Emir's dissolution of parliament. That opposition resulted in a two-year prison sentence.
On May 11, 2024, former Kuwaiti lawmaker Walid al-Tabtabai wrote a post on X which appeared to balance the tightrope between criticizing his country’s leader for dissolving Kuwait’s parliament over allegations of corruption. In reality, Kuwait’s emir made a power grab by removing one of the biggest checks on his power. Al-Tabtabai wrote on X:
“…There will be a quick return to activating the 1962 Constitution in full, and #NationalAssembly will return with all [its] constitutional powers after a pinch of permission and these valid observations made by His Highness Sheikh #MeshaalAl-AhmadAl-Sabah[.] [M]ay God protect him [from] the behavior of a few members of the National Assembly through their interference in the ministerial formation, which is at the core of His Highness’s powers. We ask God Almighty to protect Kuwait, its leadership and people, from all harm.”
The next day, he was arrested. He was sentenced to four years of prison and hard labor. An appeals court reduced his sentence to two years in September.
Overstepping Boundaries
Al-Tabtabai was found guilty of “overstepping the constitutional authority of the Emir.” That “crime” has clearly been stretched to prevent lawmakers from asserting their own authority over the country’s leader.
A strong congress or parliament is a vital check on the single person who controls the executive functions of the state and commands the army. A group of lawmakers can push back against a leader’s worst impulses and keep authority from congealing in one portion of the government.
It’s an important lesson for Americans, who, even before Donald Trump, have allowed their president to assume powers that Congress no longer exercises. For example, Barack Obama refused to have his Justice Department defend attacks on the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman until the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage.
As presidents continue finding ways to get around Congress, each president paves the way for the most power-hungry, corrupt occupant of the office to abuse its powers. The worst case scenario is making the clawback of the power Congress gave away a federal crime, leading to sentences like al-Tabtabai’s possible in the United States.