KUWAIT CITY – Routine clinical screenings may be used to “detect” homosexuals and bar them from entering Kuwait and other Gulf member states, according to a top Kuwaiti official.

A central committee tasked with the status of expatriates is set to view the proposal on November 11.

“Health centers conduct the routine medical check to assess the health of the expatriates when they come into the GCC countries,” Yousuf Mindkar, the director of public health at the Kuwaiti Health Ministry stressed.

“However, we will take stricter measures that will help us detect gays, who will be then barred from entering Kuwait or any of the GCC member states,” he added.

He did not indicate what the measures are, or how physically intrusive they might be.

Homosexual acts are banned in the country, and the prison term for them can be up to 10 years.

The situation does not differ much in other Arab states in the region, where homosexuality is a crime punishable by law.

Four of the five countries that mete out the death penalty to gay people are Arab– Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen and Mauritania.