Disappeared in Silence: Women’s Arbitrary Detention in Kuwait’s Prisons

By: Dhabya Al-Yami

Amena Akhmis Mohammad Al-Mari, a young university student just 21 years old, has, since February 2025, become a new entry in the record of arbitrary arrests of women in Kuwait.

Shortly before last Ramadan, people began circulating news of her arrest in a public place and in front of her family, in a shocking incident marked by secrecy and ambiguity. Months went by with her name concealed, and nothing was known about her fate except oral accounts among women in her area, confirming that she was taken by force without any legal basis.

It was only on 4 September 2025 that her full name was finally made public. This step came late, but it represents a crack in the wall of silence surrounding her case, after human rights, feminist, and opposition groups ignored mentioning her or defending her.

Cover-ups have never protected anyone before, and they will not protect Amena today.

Patriarchal society and double repression

The suffering of detained women in Kuwait remains an issue hidden from public view. The names of many of them are unknown, as are their ages and the backgrounds of their cases. Women, young and old, are thrown into prisons because of their freedom of expression, while society remains silent, and at times their own families take part in covering up the crime.

The patriarchal, male-dominated environment plays a central role in reinforcing this repression. In patriarchal societies, women are seen as a “source of shame,” and are subjected to blame and stigma if they express their opinions or take part in community activities. Families sometimes contribute to obstructing justice by protecting their own reputation at the expense of their daughters’ rights, covering up state abuses or encouraging them to remain silent instead of defending their right to speak. Meanwhile, sons are celebrated if they are arrested or challenge authority, and are considered brave.

This class- and gender-based bias shows how patriarchal society entrenches oppression and turns women into double victims: victims of the state and victims of social stigma.

More than that, after being released from official prison, girls often face another prison inside their family home, especially if they are Bedouin. There, they are treated with cruelty and contempt, blamed for what happened to them, and in some cases their lives are threatened or they are killed under the pretext of “cleansing the family’s honor.”

This behavior multiplies their suffering, turns their right to freedom and personal safety into an illusion, and confirms that repression is not limited to the state, but extends to society and the family as well.

Recent arrests and blackout

In recent days, the tweeter Amena Al-Refai was arrested. All she did was demand her rights, and then all news of her was cut off following threats against her, leaving open questions about her fate.

Amena’s case is not isolated. Shortly before that, news circulated of the arrest of the young university student Amena Akhmis Mohammed Al-Mari, after she was forcibly abducted in front of her family in a public place in February 2025. Since that time, her name and fate remained hidden until they were revealed recently.

Other cases confirm that the blackout surrounding detained women’s cases in Kuwait is systematic. The “Al-Majlis” page had previously posted news of the arrest of a university student, but the post was deleted after a few hours, an obvious indication of the government’s control over local media and the repression of press freedom, especially since the reason for her arrest was publishing political articles, without any disclosure of their content.

Amena Al-Marri’s case is not the first, nor will it be the last.
There are other prisoners of conscience whose arrests were concealed and whose names were never revealed. A former (currently suspended) member of the National Assembly mentioned during his visit to the Central Prison on 25 July 2023 that there were “women tweeters” who were not included in the amnesty, expressing his astonishment: “We were surprised, during our visit to the Central Prison, that there are still women tweeters in prison.”

In 2021, two young women were arrested after they held signs in the streets bearing the names of victims of patriarchal violence, to draw attention to femicides.

On 20 May 2021, lawyer Abdulaziz Al-Yahya wrote on the “X” platform that the two citizens were detained and brought before the Public Prosecution on the charge of “publishing information that undermines the prestige of the state,” facing a possible sentence of up to five years. No news of their fate has appeared since then, reflecting the continuation of a policy of blackout and enforced disappearance, and confirming a systematic pattern of restricting feminist human rights activism and blocking any accountability.

Violations inside prisons

Coinciding with the circulation of news about the arrest of Amena Al-Mari, allegations emerged that she was subjected to sexual harassment in prison. According to circulating accounts, she was calling out to her father over the phone and describing what she was being subjected to.

These testimonies intersect with the experiences of other women prisoners who have confirmed via social media that they were subjected to discrimination and ill-treatment, up to and including being denied medical care and the right to contact their lawyers or families.

One former detainee wrote on X:

“There is discrimination between women prisoners in how they are treated, even in food and in contacting their families. I was prevented from contacting my lawyer and from receiving my treatment for my autoimmune disease, which caused my health condition to relapse.
May God protect her from the inmate who harassed me on the orders of Fahd Al-Yousef.”

Here, the tweeter is referring to Amena Al-Refai.

She continued:

“There is a first lieutenant named Mukhtar who treats women prisoners in an inhumane way. He is the one who rejected my request to take my medication, refused to allow me to call my family, and rejected my request to bring food from outside.
There is an Egyptian prisoner with her four-year-old son in the deportation ward, and they have been there for a year; I saw him myself.”

As reported in a news item published by the Kuwait Network on 4 September 2025: “11 officers and soldiers were referred to the Public Prosecution on charges of torturing a prisoner.”

The accused officers were punished with an administrative detention of no more than 25 days, and a nominal case was filed against them, after which the details disappeared. The circumstances of the incident were not disclosed, the fate of the prisoner was not announced, and no clear judicial ruling against them has appeared. This is impunity in its clearest form.

Official defamation of women

In parallel, the state practices defamation of women as an additional punishment.
The Ministry of Interior has turned into a thuggish authority that enforces social stigma. The most striking example was the case of actress Shujoon Al-Hajeri: she was not accused of drug trafficking, only of personal use, yet she was paraded in shackles before the cameras in a degrading manner. In countries that respect rights, drug use is treated as a health issue to be addressed, not as a tool for shaming and humiliating people.

The Interior Ministry did not stop there. On 3 September 2025, the ministry published the photos and names of women before referring them to the Public Prosecution, in a flagrant violation of the presumption of innocence. Among them were:

• Fatima Ghali Snayd Al-Husayli
• Ohoud Ghali Snayd Al-Husayli
• Karima Abdul Razzaq Hassan

The charges brought against them were vague: “assault” and “hostility to the state.” But the Interior Ministry raided the home, spread fear, and then rushed to tarnish the women’s reputation in front of society before any trial. This pattern of official defamation reflects the decline of the security institution into a tool for public score-settling, and turns women into double victims: victims of state power and victims of social stigma.

The failure of human rights and feminist organizations

Despite the existence of several human rights and feminist organizations in Kuwait, most of them have shown no stance regarding the cases of prisoners of conscience, men or women.
These organizations often try to present themselves as defenders of rights and freedoms, as though they are leading campaigns to protect women and society. In reality, they limit themselves to media appearances without any tangible action, and they do not even bother to contact the families of detainees or provide the most basic forms of support and assistance to them.

This false image creates a misleading impression in society that there are institutions defending rights, while they, in fact, ignore the grave violations suffered by detained women and leave them without real advocates or serious follow-up of their cases. The ongoing absence of a public stance or documentation of these cases reflects a deep gap in rights protection and leaves detainees as victims without any independent watchdog to defend their rights.

Detained women in Kuwait: repression and silence

The case of Amena Akhmis Mohammad Al-Mari, and of all prisoners of conscience in Kuwait, is not a series of isolated incidents, but part of a systematic pattern of repression and blackout. The state bears direct responsibility through arbitrary arrests, official defamation, and restrictions inside prisons, while the patriarchal society and families increase women’s suffering after their release.

Shining a light on these cases and calling on local and international communities to pressure the authorities to stop violations and hold those responsible accountable is the bare minimum of justice owed to every woman prisoner of conscience in Kuwait. The absence of transparency and accountability does not only harm women; it harms society as a whole and entrenches a culture of impunity.

By: Dhabya Al-Yami