Kuwait detains former MP for anti-Emir tweet

Scores of Kuwaiti activists, including former members of parliament, yesterday protested against detaining former parliamentarian Saleh Al-Mulla on charges of insulting the Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and Egyptian President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi, the Anadolu Agency reported.

Kuwait’s Attorney General ordered Mullah to be detained for 10 days for questioning following tweets he released in which he criticised the Kuwaiti Emir and Al-Sisi, judicial sources said.

The protest, which took place outside Al-Mulla’s house, east of the capital on Sunday evening, included former Parliament Speaker Ahmed Al-Sadoun and former Member of Parliament Musallam Al-Barrak as well as a number of former opposition MPs.

Ahead of Al-Sisi’s two-day visit to Kuwait, Al-Mulla wrote on Twitter: “Al-Sisi is not welcome in Kuwait and the Kuwaiti people should benefit from its wealth instead of spending it to boost other governments.”

“Your highness, we won’t accept billions more handed out to other countries. We have donated enough. This is the money of the people of Kuwait,” he wrote in Arabic.

Al-Mulla’s lawyer Abdullah Al-Ahmad said there was no legal basis to detain his client. “There is no basis for these accusations and there is no need to detain my client,” he said. Al-Ahmad said Al-Mulla admitted to posting the tweets but he denied the accusations made against him and will request bail.

Kuwait’s former Parliament Speaker Ahmed Al-Sadoun said in a tweet: “Al-Mulla’s firm defence of the constitution, democracy and public freedoms has not changed inside and outside parliament therefore he deserves the public’s support”.

Meanwhile, former MP Mohammed Al-Kandari accused the regime of exercising repression, terror, oppression and confiscation of freedom of speech in the name of law.

Al-Mulla served as a Parliament member in 2008 and 2009 but he boycotted the parliamentary elections of 2012 and 2013 which were invalidated the Constitutional Court. He is a leading member of the National Democratic Alliance in Kuwait.