Crime settlement in Kuwait refers to the legal mechanisms that let a victim, or a victim’s family, waive prosecution or accept fixed financial compensation instead of pursuing full criminal penalties. Rooted in Islamic legal tradition and codified in Kuwaiti statute, these mechanisms can halt a case at any stage, including in the hours before an execution. Recent reforms have kept the core system intact while closing off settlement in categories of cases where the government now considers reconciliation inappropriate.
How Blood Money (Diyah) Works
Blood money, or diyah, is a pre-determined form of compensation for death and for 26 specific types of bodily injuries. It is regulated by Civil Law No. 67 of 1980 and the Blood Money Decree of 1981, which draw the amounts from Islamic Sharia provisions.1Neliti. The Legal Regulation of Blood Money in Kuwait
Full blood money for a death is set at 10,000 Kuwaiti Dinar. The law applies that figure without discrimination based on gender, religion, nationality, or age. Partial amounts are assigned to specific injuries: 50 percent for the loss of one eye, hand, or foot, and 5 percent per tooth, among others.1Neliti. The Legal Regulation of Blood Money in Kuwait
What sets diyah apart from ordinary civil damages is the judge’s role. In standard civil cases, a court weighs the circumstances to arrive at a figure. In a diyah case, the judge applies the statutory amount. There is no discretion to raise or lower it based on the parties’ means or the severity of loss beyond the fixed schedule.1Neliti. The Legal Regulation of Blood Money in Kuwait
Statutory diyah figures are a floor, not a ceiling on what a family may negotiate privately. In practice, families of murder victims can and do agree to far larger sums in exchange for a waiver.
When a Victim’s Waiver Can Stop a Case
A formal waiver from the victim or the victim’s family, filed with the public prosecutor, can suspend a criminal case or its penalty even after conviction. The most striking recent example came in September 2024, when a Kuwaiti woman convicted of premeditated murder and scheduled for execution was spared just hours before the sentence was to be carried out. The victim’s relatives accepted blood money of one million KD and filed a formal waiver with the public prosecutor.2Hands Off Cain. Kuwait: Six Executed, Female Convict Spared at Final Hour
That case ran alongside six executions carried out the same month, showing how narrowly the settlement window can close: five other convicts in the same batch had no waiver from the victims’ families and were put to death.2Hands Off Cain. Kuwait: Six Executed, Female Convict Spared at Final Hour
Adultery is another offense where waiver plays a defined statutory role. Article 197 of the Penal Code gives the offended spouse the right to waive criminal proceedings at any stage, including by requesting suspension of the final penalty, provided the marital relationship is resumed. The court also has discretion to replace imprisonment with a fine of up to 375 KD.3OHCHR. Special Procedures Communication on Kuwait
Where Settlement Is No Longer Allowed
Kuwait has moved to restrict settlement in categories of cases where reconciliation was seen as protecting offenders or coercing victims.
The Domestic Violence Law, Decree No. 11 of 2026, permits amicable settlement of some domestic disputes but explicitly bars victims from dropping complaints or accepting reconciliation in cases involving sexual abuse, violence against children or incapacitated persons, and violence by children against parents. Anyone who coerces a victim into withdrawing a complaint faces up to six months in prison and a fine of up to 1,000 KD.4Al-Dostour. New Domestic Violence Law in Kuwait 2026
The other major shift was the repeal of Article 153 of the Penal Code, which took effect on March 16, 2025 under Decree Law No. 9 of 2025. Article 153 had allowed a man who killed a wife, daughter, sister, or mother caught in an act of adultery to receive a maximum sentence of three years in prison or a fine of 3,000 KD, treating such killings as “excusable crimes.” The repeal subjects all homicides to full criminal liability regardless of the claimed motive.5Eastlaws. Decree Law No. 9 of 2025 The government cited its obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child in justifying the change.6International IDEA. Kuwait Democracy Tracker, March 2025
Article 153 was not a settlement provision in the diyah sense, but it operated in the same neighborhood: it reduced criminal exposure based on a claimed private grievance. Its removal is part of the same trend that carved sexual and child abuse cases out of the domestic violence settlement track.
Settlement’s Place in the Wider System
To see where a waiver or blood money agreement fits, it helps to know the shape of the criminal process it can interrupt.
Kuwaiti criminal law rests on two 1960 statutes: the Penal Code (Law No. 16 of 1960) and the Code of Criminal Procedure (Law No. 17 of 1960). The constitution guarantees the presumption of innocence, equality before the law, no punishment without a prior law, and a prohibition on torture.7University of Minnesota Human Rights Library. Kuwait Report 1997
Investigation is split. Misdemeanors carrying up to three years’ imprisonment or fines up to 3,000 KD are handled by officials under the Ministry of the Interior at local police stations. More serious offenses go to the Department of Public Prosecutions under the Ministry of Justice.8Queen’s University Belfast / KILAW. Criminal Justice Report on Kuwait
Cases move through three tiers. Courts of First Instance conduct the initial trial. Decisions can be appealed within 30 days to the Courts of Appeal, where three judges review both the facts and the law. The Court of Cassation, incorporated into the judiciary in 1990, sits at the top and reviews cases on points of law only, issuing final and binding rulings. A defendant who pursues every level can expect the process to take two to four years.9Chambers and Partners. Litigation 2026: Kuwait
A victim’s waiver can be filed at any stage of this pipeline, and in murder cases it can be filed after a sentence has become final and even, as the September 2024 case showed, in the hours before execution.2Hands Off Cain. Kuwait: Six Executed, Female Convict Spared at Final Hour
Penalties If No Settlement Is Reached
Where no waiver is filed and no compensation is accepted, Kuwaiti courts apply the full statutory penalty. Several of those penalties were recently recalibrated.
Capital punishment remains in active use for murder. After a de facto moratorium that began in 2007, executions resumed in 2013.10The Advocates for Human Rights. Kuwait Death Penalty Submission11CBS News. Global Use of Death Penalty Hit 44-Year High12UN Geneva. Consideration of Kuwait Before the Committee Against Torture
Life imprisonment terms were reduced to 20 years by a directive from the acting prime minister. Penalties for manslaughter and accidental injury were increased, and new provisions criminalize the fraudulent transfer of assets to evade debts. The Public Prosecution also gained authority to collect fines directly from a convict’s salary, up to 25 percent, with installment plans stretching to five years.13Kuwait E-Government Portal. Recent Legal Reforms in Kuwait
Torture by state officials was explicitly criminalized under Decree-Law No. 93 of 2024. The revised Article 53 imposes up to five years in prison and a fine of up to 5,000 KD on any public employee who inflicts physical or psychological pain on a person, or on their family members, to force a confession. Officials who are present and silently permit such acts face the same penalties. When torture is motivated by discrimination, the penalty rises to up to seven years and fines between 3,000 and 10,000 KD. If torture results in death, the perpetrator faces the penalty for intentional homicide.14Times Kuwait. Kuwait Tightens Penalties for Insulting Public Employees
The Penal Code was also amended in 2025 to raise the minimum age of marriage to 18 for both sexes.15OHCHR. Kuwait Must Strengthen Implementation of Reforms, End Violence Against Women
A juvenile offender’s exposure is structured separately. Under Law No. 111 of 2015, a juvenile is a person under 16, the age of criminal responsibility is seven, and death sentences and life imprisonment are prohibited for all offenders under 18. That protection was briefly suspended between late 2016 and March 2017 before being reinstated.16CRIN. Inhuman Sentencing of Children in Kuwait
Taken together, these rules describe a system in which private settlement retains real force — it can spare a life — while the categories where settlement is available continue to narrow, and the underlying penalties for cases that reach judgment without a waiver remain among the harshest in the region.