KUWAIT: Human Rights Watch yesterday commended a decision by Kuwait to drop a controversial counterterrorism law mandating DNA testing for all citizens, residents and visitors, which had been passed following a 2015 suicide attack. "The court's decision to overturn the DNA law is a very positive step that ends this misguided and hastily passed invasion of privacy in Kuwait," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at HRW.

The law was passed in 2015 after a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque which killed 26 people and wounded 227 others. Najd Province, the Saudi Arabian affiliate of the Islamic State group, claimed the June 2015 suicide attack. Kuwait's constitutional court, which oversees the compliance of law with the constitution, ruled on Oct 5 the DNA law unconstitutional on the grounds that it contravened articles on personal liberty.