Constitutional Courts in the Arab World and Freedom of Expression: A Defender or Suppressor

Abstract

This paper examines the role of constitutional courts in the Arab world in relation to freedom of expression. The role of constitutional courts as gatekeepers of constitutional rights in the Arab world has neither been fully assessed nor analyzed. This paper will analyze and review the decisions issued by constitutional courts in the Arab world with an emphasis on constitutional courts in Egypt, Kuwait, Tunisia, and Morocco. Some of these courts have been active in their roles as gatekeepers and have issued relatively progressive decisions in the area of freedom of expression. However, these successes in protecting this constitutional right have been the exception rather than the rule, and hence, this paper will try to examine the reasons behind the failure of these courts in safeguarding this right. The paper will also explore the jurisprudence as to the understanding of the legal boundaries of freedom of expression, as all of the countries in the Arab world follow civil legal systems, and hence, jurisprudence plays a major role in how the courts interpret these rights.