Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 391

The judgment’s establishment that the first witness arrested the second appellant in flagrante delicto committing the misdemeanour of entering the country through places other than those designated and without carrying a passport bearing a lawful visa, and that he assigned the first appellant to guard him and referred him by letter to the land security officer, “the second witness.” The first appellant’s defence that the elements of the offence of enabling an arrested person to escape—for which he was convicted—were absent because what the first witness did constituted a stop rather than an arrest. A manifestly invalid defence. The judgment’s disregarding it. No defect. The first appellant’s deliberately enabling the second appellant to escape. Establishes the elements of that offence. His claim that he released him pursuant to the powers of his office. Incorrect, refuted by the second witness’s statements that he was not the official responsible for that. The judgment’s disregarding it. Does not vitiate it. The reason: it is a defence unsupported by reality, and it was not established that his belief in that regard was based on acceptable grounds following verification and inquiry. - An official’s non-liability for acts he commits in exercise of a power he believed the law conferred upon him, or in execution of an order he believed the law required him to obey. Its criterion: his proving that his belief was based on acceptable grounds and that he undertook the verification and inquiry necessary to ascertain the lawfulness of his act. Article 38 of the Penal Code. - 99 - Penal matters (5) Use of force or violence against a public official or police officer