Political situation in Kuwait

This file relates to the political situation in Kuwait. It contains correspondence concerning:

• A National Assembly motion repealing Article 35 of the Kuwait Press Law of 1961, including support from the 'near- Marxist' Sami Munayyis and 'ultra-conservative' editor of Al Ayyam Abbas Habib Munawir
• Press reports of complaints about the expulsion of Iraqis, allegations denied by Major General Abdul Latif Thuwainy
• The expulsion of illegal Iranian immigrants
• A car bomb explosion at the Jordanian Embassy
• Ambassador A J Wilton's analysis of the workings and performance of the National Assembly and its deteriorating relationship with the government, including reference to a dispute over pay increases and the issue of the of the islands of Abu Musa and Tunb
• A renewal of the power struggle between Prime Minister and Crown Prince Sheikh Jabir Al Ahmad Al Sabah and Sheikh Jabir Al Ali Al Sabah, and a report in Al Rai Al Aam about efforts to persuade the Prime Minister to accept Sheikh Jabir Al Ali as a member of his government; and uncertainty about the state of the Ruler Sheikh Sabah Al Salem Al Sabah's health, and the possibility of him abdicating
• A flurry of legislation passed during the last 72 hours of the second session of the third legislative term of the National Assembly, including reference to the budget, natural gas, civil workers' labour law, nationality law, and low cost housing; and a cartoon in the Daily News
• Social reform, particularly campaigns against long hair and bell-bottom trousers, with youths rounded up and forcibly shorn; and a cutting from the Kuwait Times containing letters to the editor expressing readers' resentment
• The engagement of Sheikh Ali Al Jabir Al Ali Al Sabah to the daughter of Sheikh Jabir Al Ahmad
• Press cutting from the Daily News containing a summary of the main points in the Ruler's speech delivered on 24 October 1972, including reference to foreign affairs, Israel's intransigence and expansionism, terrorism, defence, Kuwait's support for the Libya-Egypt federation and the nationalisation of the Iraq Petroleum Company, the floating of sterling and the importance of oil