KUWAIT CITY, June 11, (Agencies): Kuwait has arrested a Kuwaiti Shiite Muslim man for publishing criticism of the ruling families in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia on social media site Twitter, a security source said on Saturday.
Nasser Abul was arrested on Thursday and no charges have been pressed against him so far, the source said. He gave no details.
Democracy activists have used social media to debate, organise and share information in Bahrain where the government crushed a protest movement in March after inviting Saudi and United Arab Emirates forces to help restore order.
Bahrain questioned a rights activist in April for publishing an image which appeared to show signs of torture on a man who died in detention during the unrest. It is not clear if the case will be brought to court.
A Bahraini journalist said last month he was questioned about his Twitter postings during two hours of detention.
Gulf Arab governments, run by closely-allied ruling families, are trying to stop protest movements that brought down Egyptian and Tunisian leaders this year taking off in their patch.
They fear democracy movements could allow Shiite power Iran to gain influence. Bahrain has a Shiite majority and Kuwait and other Gulf countries have Shiite minorities.
Sources say a large number of Abul’s family members staged a sit-in in front of the State Security office, demanding his release, while a number of lawmakers condemned the arrest and described it as a violation of the freedom of expression right.
Lawmakers Musallam Al-Barrak, Dr Hassan Jowhar, Dr Yousef Al-Zalzalah and Saleh Ashour described the arrest as ‘illegal’ and urged the Interior Minister to quickly release Abul. Dr Al-Zalzalah alleged that the arrest was based on sectarian grounds, while Dr Hassan Jowhar said “arresting Tweep (Twitter user) Nasser Abul is a violation of freedom of expression and he should not be held in detention without a charge.” Minister of Interior Affairs would be held responsible for this, he added.
MP Mohammad Hayef Al-Mutairi, however, sided with the State Security and said we should not give in to the pressures to release the Tweep who abused the companions of the Prophet (PBUH), the regimes of the Gulf countries and members of the National Assembly on his Twitter homepage.