Kuwaiti Emir Skeikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Jabar has died at age 86, official Kuwaiti media announced Saturday. File Photo by Noufal Ibrahim/EPA-EFE
Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Nawaf has died at age 86, the official Kuwaiti news agency announced Saturday.
Nawaf became leader in 2020 after the death of his predecessor Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al Jaber al Sabah. Advertisement
“His highness Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad became the Emir after 58 years of holding numerous posts.” KUNA reported Saturday.
The current deputy ruler, Crown Prince Sheikh Meshal Al Ahmad Al Jaber, who has been charged with many of the ruler’s responsibilities since 2021, was named as his successor.
Nawaf was a major player in recent Kuwaiti history, serving as minister of defense during the 1990-1991 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
“With great sadness and sorrow, we — the Kuwaiti people, the Arab and Islamic nations, and the friendly peoples of the world — mourn the late his Highness the emir, Sheikh Nawaf al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah,” court minister Mohammed Abdullah Al Sabah said in a statement.
In November, Nawaf was hospitalized for undeclared medical reasons.
Kuwait is a constitutional, hereditary emirate ruled by the Al Sabah family. The U.S. State Department says that while there is also a democratically elected parliament, the Emir holds ultimate authority over most government decisions. Advertisement
The most recent parliamentary general election, which it considered to be “generally free and fair,” was held in September 2022.
The Kuwaiti government has been accused of “significant” human rights violations by the United States was well as by watchdog groups. In its most recent human rights report on Kuwait issued in 2022, the State Department cited “credible reports” of torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by government agents; arbitrary arrest; political prisoners and detainees; and serious restrictions on free expression and media.
Human Rights Watch said in a 2022 report that Kuwaiti authorities “use provision in the penal code and the national security and cybercrime laws to restrict free speech and prosecute dissidents, particularly for comments made on social media.”
Notable Deaths of 2023
Andre BraugherActor Andre Braugher holds his Emmy won for his work in “Thief” at the Primetime Emmy awards in Los Angeles on August 27, 2006. Braugher, best known for staring in “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “Men of a Certain Age” and “Homicide: Life on the Street,” died at the age of 61 on December 11. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo
