An Australian woman has been sitting in a Kuwaiti jail cell for three weeks for allegedly bashing Kuwait’s ruling Emir at a Kuwaiti airport. 
But according to the daughter of Nasrah Alshamery, 43, she does not even know the name of the Emir.
Wafa Alshamery, 21, a medical science student, said: “My mum didn’t swear about the emir. She didn’t even mention his name. [The security guards] made this problem because their friend started hitting my dad.”
“One of the police said something like, ‘Saddam Hussein, he made you (look) human’. My mother said ‘Thanks to George Bush and John Howard, they gave you the freedom’.”
Under Kuwaiti law, the Emir – Sheik Sabah IV Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah – does not have to be mentioned by name and under Article 25 of Kuwait’s constitution, the offence carries a five-year jail term.
Two of Mrs Alshamery’s sons, Abdulaziz, 22, and Abdulrahman, 18, were also jailed but have since been released on bail and are being investigated for allegedly assaulting Kuwaiti government officials.
The row occurred when Mrs Alshamery, her husband Solomon, 43, six sons and daughter flew into Kuwait from Syria as part of their return to their homeland, which they left 10 years ago.
At the family’s Winston Hills home outside of Sydney, Ms Alshamery told how an airport security officer was rude to her youngest brother, Mohammed, when the family asked about getting visas.
“He shouted ‘I told your son upstairs’ and my dad said: ‘Hey, you should speak nicely because everyone’s watching us.’
“And he said: ‘Are you teaching me how I [should] speak?’ and then when my dad turned around to come back to us [the guard] took the passport from my dad’s hand and pushed my dad on the floor.”
She said Abdulaziz and Abdulrahman went to the aid of their father.
“They grabbed my brothers and dad and put them in the office and started hitting and punching them for a couple of hours,” said Ms Alshamery, who is now back in Sydney with her father and four other brothers.
“My mother was screaming at them ‘Give me my sons’,” said Ms Alshamery, adding the security officers made fun of her mother’s Arabic, saying she was speaking with a funny accent and accusing her of being a “slut” because she was Australian, even though she was wearing a hijab that covered everything but her eyes.
“[He said:] ‘You think you’re Australian. You’re not Australian. Australian ladies they’re all sluts.’ He said: ‘We go to Australia to use the ladies for sex.’
“He said: ‘I’ll show you the rape here in Kuwait’ and started to pull me.”
At that point, the entire Alshamery family were taken into custody and spent nearly three days at the airport.
“They put my mum and brothers [Abdulaziz and Abdulrahman] in a separate jail and left me and my dad in a room without food, without drink,” Ms Alshamery said.
“They took our passports and didn’t give them back until the last minute.”
Everyone was set free, except for Mrs Alshamery. According to one of her sons, Nasrah is sick and is refusing to eat or drink.
The son, Ahmed, said his mother was targeted because she threatened to tell Australian authorities about the situation.
“She was telling him, `I’m going to let the Australian Government know about it, and we’re going to tell the Kuwaiti Government and you’re going to get in trouble’,” he said.
The family’s lawyer Mohammed Masri, said he would be lodging a complaint with the Department of Foreign Affairs on their behalf.
A DFAT spokesman said she was being helped by embassy officials.
Australian consular officials were helping the family, Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith said today.
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