Kuwait arrests political leader over Saudi ‘insult’



Kuwait City // Kuwait has arrested the leader of the conservative Ummah Party for allegedly insulting the neighbouring Gulf state of Saudi Arabia on television.

Hakem Al Mutairi was arrested at the instruction of the public prosecutor for “grossly insulting Saudi Arabia” during an interview, the ministry said in a statement.

Mr Al Mutairi is the head of the Ummah Party, a group of conservative politicians founded in 2005 but still not officially recognised.

The group said Mr Al Mutairi was arrested by the secret police on Friday and interrogated over remarks he made on television in December about the death of the Ummah Party’s former leader, Mohammed Al Mufreh, in Saudi Arabia.

It said Mr Al Mutairi raised questions that Al Mufreh may have died from poisoning at a hospital in Turkey.

In recent months, Kuwait has cracked down on online activists for criticising Arab leaders, especially those of Gulf states and Egypt.

Authorities have detained and questioned several activists and former MPs for “insulting” Egyptian, Saudi and Emirati leaders.

* Agence France-Presse

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