Manama: Kuwait has deported five Gulf nationals after they were found guilty of harassing women in a public place.

Four more people, including three Gulf nationals and an Arab citizen, will also be deported this week under a new measure announced by the interior ministry to curb the phenomenon of public harassment.

Last week, Mahmood Al Tabbakh, the head of the General Directorate for Criminal Investigation, told local daily Al Rai that the interior ministry had decided to deport any foreigner who harassed women.

Security sources said that the five Gulf deportees would not be allowed to enter Kuwait and that the ban on visits to the country would be extended to anyone who was deported for harassing women.

The four other people who will be deported this week for harassment have reportedly caused serious issues to some families in Kuwait.

“The interior ministry is adopting a zero-tolerance policy towards any case of harassment in order to put an end to the phenomenon and restore the bright reputation of public places,” the sources said.

“The interior minister Shaikh Mohammad Al Khalid had issued directives to all security agencies in the country to “deport any expatriate who disrupts security and order and infringes on the law or public morality and to prevent him from returning to the country.”

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nationals who are detained in harassment cases will be deported without delays, unless there is a legal complaint against them filed by the victims, the sources added.

“We understand that some harassment victims do not want to file complaints or report cases because they want to avoid what they see as a scandal, so it is our duty to take action against the reckless expatriates who did not respect the country’s laws and people by deporting them,” Al Tabbakh said last week. “We will not allow anyone to take advantage of the country’s national occasions and holidays to break the law and disturb people,” he said.

The GCC, set up in 1981, groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.