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In a December 28, 2019 interview on ATV (Kuwait), former Kuwaiti Minister Ali Al-Baghli, who has also been a member of Kuwait's parliament, was asked regarding whether a certain Kuwaiti man who converted to Judaism should be stripped of his Kuwaiti citizenship or not. Al-Baghli answered that there should be no punishment for this person because Kuwait is a country governed by laws that do not infringe upon people's personal liberty to convert to different religions. He pointed out that if it had been a Jew that converted to Islam, everybody would have applauded this man, and that Judaism has been around for longer than Islam. Al-Baghli added: "If he is wrong, Allah will punish him. Why should we, as humans, interfere?"
Interviewer: "Today, we heard of a Kuwaiti citizen who converted to Judaism, and people say that he should be stripped of his [Kuwaiti] citizenship. This conversion, alongside his statements, are not important... Do you think that revoking his citizenship is justified in this case?"
Ali Al-Baghli: "No. We are a country governed by laws. It is not a crime and there should be no punishment unless it is written in the constitution. Article 50 of the constitution specifies that... Does our country's citizenship law – which has been turned into a game – state that a person should be stripped of his citizenship if he changes his religion? No, it does not. If it was a Jew who converted to Islam, we would be applauding him. Enough with that. It is a matter of personal liberty. If he is wrong, Allah will punish him. Why should we, as humans, interfere? After all, this religion existed even before our religion. It existed in the days of the Prophet Muhammad and the Rightly Guided Caliphs."
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