Kuwait relaxes book censorship laws after banning thousands of titles

Kuwait relaxes book censorship laws after banning thousands of titles

After banning almost 5,000 books in the last seven years, Kuwait's government has relaxed its book censorship laws in a move that has been welcomed by writers and free speech activists.Kuwaiti state media reported that the country's parliament had voted 40 to nine in favour of lifting the Ministry of Information's control over books imported into the country. Previously, the ministry had blacklisted more than 4,000 books since 2014, with titles including Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame and One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez falling foul of its censorship committee. All books published in the country had to receive prior approval from a 12-member committee that met twice a month before they could be released, with offences ranging from insulting Islam to “inciting unrest” and