'Al-Watan' Alleged Fake Photo, Claims Thousands At 'Blue Rally'

Al-Watan's behaviour through the whole '5 For Kuwait' crisis has been nothing short of offensive, prejudiced and dangerous.

• They ran online polls asking people whether they support 5 constituencies and quickly withdrew them when they found an overwhelming majority supported the reform.

• They ran unflattering photographs of young men in Parliament yawning and the like (they were up almost all night showing their support for '5 For Kuwait).

• They ran critical pieces on the '5 For Kuwait' campaign and the 29 reformist MP's.

But now they really have gone over the line by photoshoping, by basically faking a large photograph that ran on the front page following featuring the "Blue Movement" (anti-5 constituencies).

Here are the pictures. Check out the size of the body types and heads featured (especially comparing crowds front and back and left to right - they are not in proportion to each other). And most of all check out the headless individual holding the flag. It is obvious that this picture has been extensively photoshoped with a variation of cut and paste images.

The Front Page

The Fake Photograph

This newspaper's actions have been so blatant, so predictable, they are now the laughing stock of the public here. I would expect this kind of pandering from an Iraqi newspaper under Qusai or Uday Hussein but not in Kuwait.

A big hearty thanks to Sand Dunes and A Kuwaiti Online for uncovering and highlighting this issue.For an in-depth look at the photographs with Arabic language commentary check out Safat Square as well.