Kuwait arrests Islamist leader over Saudi 'insult'

Kuwait has arrested the leader of the Islamist Ummah Party for allegedly insulting the neighbouring Gulf state of Saudi Arabia on television, the interior ministry has revealed in a written statement. According to AFP, Hakem Al-Mutairi was arrested on the instructions of the public prosecutor.

Mutairi is the head of the Ummah Party, a group of Islamist and conservative politicians founded in 2005 but still not recognised officially by the government in Kuwait. The group said that he was arrested by the secret police on Friday and interrogated over remarks he made on television in December about the death of the head of the Saudi Arabian Ummah Party. It was suggested that Mohammed Al-Mufreh may have been poisoned in a Turkish hospital.

In recent months, Kuwait has cracked down on online activists for criticising Arab leaders, especially those from the Gulf States and Egypt. The authorities have detained and questioned several activists and former MPs for “insulting” Egyptian, Saudi and UAE leaders.