Kuwait abolishes law reducing punishment for honor crimes
The Constitution guarantees equality among people in human dignity, public rights, and duties, and prohibits discrimination based on gender, origin, language, or religion.
• Anyone who catches his wife, daughter, mother, or sister in adultery and kills them or their partner faces up to three years in prison or a fine of up to three thousand dinars.
Decree-Law No. 9 of 2025 repealed Article 153 of the Penal Code (Law No. 16 of 1960), which had provided a mitigating excuse for men who killed their wife, mother, daughter, or sister upon catching them in the act of adultery, Al Rai newspaper reported.
The explanatory memorandum of the decree stated that“The Constitution, in Article 29, guarantees equality among people in human dignity, public rights, and duties, and prohibits discrimination based on gender, origin, language, or religion.”
It further noted that Article 153 of the Penal Code, issued under Law No. 16 of 1960, provided a legal excuse to mitigate the punishment of a man who killed his wife, mother, daughter, or sister upon catching her in the act of adultery.
The memorandum emphasized that limiting this excuse to men, while excluding women, constitutes gender-based discrimination, as it is based on the provocation of men’s emotions by this crime, despite women experiencing the same feelings. Moreover, it pointed out that mitigating the punishment for such crimes contributes to their recurrence.
Kuwait raises marriage age to 18
On the other hand, Decree-Law No. 10 of 2025 was issued to amend Article 26 of Law No. 51 of 1984 on personal status, which now reads that “It is prohibited to document or authenticate a marriage contract for anyone who has not reached the age of 18 at the time of documentation.”
Similarly, Decree-Law No. 11 of 2025 was issued to amend Article 15 of the Jaafari Personal Status Law by adding a new paragraph stating that “It is prohibited to document or authenticate a marriage contract for anyone who has not reached the age of 18 at the time of documentation.”
The amendment setting the minimum marriage age at 18 was made “based on the Kuwaiti Constitution, which affirms the protection of the family, motherhood, and childhood in accordance with the provisions of Islamic Sharia, and in consideration of Kuwait’s international obligations,” according to the explanatory memorandum.
Honor killing law set maximum sentence at three years
Article 153 of the Penal Code stated that “Whoever catches his wife in the act of adultery, or catches his daughter, mother, or sister engaging in sexual intercourse with a man, and kills her on the spot, or kills the person committing adultery or engaging in intercourse with her, or kills both of them together, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years and a fine not exceeding three thousand dinars, or with either of these two penalties.”
