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The law she was referring to—the main reason that Reem feels forced to live a life of constant subterfuge—is Article 198 of Kuwait’s Penal Code, which was amended in 2007 to criminalize, “imitating the opposite sex.” Under this law, transgender individuals are essentially considered criminal imposters.

The real-world impact of the 2007 amendment became painfully clear when Reem’s best friend, “Dalia,” joined us and described a recent experience.

While she was driving home one night, Dalia had car trouble and had to pull over. A policeman pulled up and asked for her papers. On official documents, Dalia, like Reem, is a man—in Kuwait, transgendered people have no legal recourse to change the gender on their ID cards.

The policeman arrested Dalia for dressing as a woman. Ultimately, she spent eight days in prison, for the crime of imitating the opposite sex. Upon release, Dalia was ordered to pay a fine and banned from traveling abroad for seven months. “Now,” she told me, “my biggest fear is a flat tire.”

More: http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/07/15/being-transgender-kuwait-my-biggest-fear-flat-tire