KUWAIT CITY, Nov 2: Opposition MPs and political movements condemned on Wednesday the arrest of four Kuwaiti Twitter activists on the charge of insulting the royal sanctity, His Highness the Amir, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah.

The arrests were announced by the Ministry of Interior on Tuesday, which said in a statement that it had been following the activists and has seen evidence of the transgression on the social networking site. Two of the activists, Hamad Al-Alayan and Tarek Al-Mutairi, were referred to the Public Prosecution after investigations and are scheduled to appear in court on Thursday.

MPs Daifallah Buramiya, criticized the Interior Ministry’s interference with the basic freedom of opinion. He said the arrests have proved that the ministry is still being managed by ‘a repressive policing ideology’ that violates the Constitution and basic freedoms.

The method of “gagging” is useless, Buramiya added, it merely harms Kuwait’s reputation internationally. He said it seems Kuwait’s ministers are working with the prime minister, to protect him from criticism and warned Minister of Interior, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Humoud, of severe political repercussions.

For his part, Islamist MP Mohammad Hayef questioned what he describes as the “double standards” of the interior ministry. He said the arrests of Twitter activists, which only serve certain agendas, while ignoring those who have committed blasphemy against the Divine, the Prophet ‘s (PBUH) wife in the media and tore national unity, will not be tolerated.

MPs Abdulrahman Al-Anjari, Mubarak Al-Walaan, Musallam Al-Barrak and Falah Al-Sawagh further described the interior ministry actions as an attempt to transform Kuwait into a “police state.” The Islamic Constitutional Movement (ICM), opposition youth organization ‘the Fifth Fence’ among others also condemned the arrests and called on MPs and political movements to act in protection of democratic freedoms.

Al-Barrak said the Interior Ministry is interpreting of its own accord what it has seen on Twitter to intimidate activists justify arrests, not for the protection of the royal sanctity. He insisted the allegations are false as the Kuwaiti people have always respected the Amiri sanctity.

Al-Barrak further claimed that there is a Dubai-based company, owned by a Palestinian, which monitors Twitter activists and is paid by the prime minister’s office. He said the company sends reports to the Ministry of Interior on all what is tweeted on Prime Minister, Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah.
The opposition MP addressed Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud and urged him not to appease the PM at the expense of freedom, and to monitor Kuwait’s security status instead of Twitter activists.