Kuwait bans Fahrenheit 9/11: ‘Insult’ to Saudi royals

Kuwait, a major US ally in the Gulf, has banned Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 because it deems the movie insulting to the Saudi Arabian royal family and critical of US’s invasion of Iraq, an official said on Sunday.

‘‘We have a law that prohibits insulting friendly nations, and ties between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are special,’’ Abdul-Aziz Bou Dastour, cinema and production supervisor at the Information Ministry, said.

He said the film ‘‘insulted the Saudi royal family by saying they had common interests with the Bush family and that those interests contradicted with the interests of the American people.’’ Fahrenheit 9/11, which won the top honour at May’s Cannes Film Festival, depicts the White House asleep at the wheel before 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington. —AP/PTI