Kuwait City: Kuwait authorities have detained several online activists for allegedly making comments deemed offensive to Saudi Arabia’s late King Abdullah, a rights group and activists said on Thursday.
Secret police late on Wednesday arrested prominent rights and online activist Mohammad Al Ajmi outside his home for “unknown reasons”, the National Committee for Monitoring Violations, an independent rights group of which Al Ajmi is a member, said on its Twitter account.
Online activists and former lawmakers said on Twitter that Al Ajmi was being held for questioning over tweets he posted on Saudi Arabia.
Nawaf Al Hendal, a leading rights activist, said at least four others had been detained by state security for tweets deemed offensive to King Abdullah, who died last Friday.
Al Hendal, currently in Geneva, also said on his Twitter account that arrest warrants have been issued against him and five other tweeters for the same reason.
The Gulf Centre for Human Rights, an independent body, said Hendal was being “targeted in order to intimidate him and others from working as defenders of human rights”.
There was no word on the arrests from the interior ministry and the public prosecutor has not announced any charges.
Kuwait has cracked down on activists for making comments seen as critical of the country’s ruler and other Arab leaders, especially in the Gulf.
Former liberal MP Saleh Al Mulla was detained for five days earlier this month for tweets deemed offensive to Egyptian President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi during a two-day visit to Kuwait.
He is to stand trial on February 15.
And MP Abdul Hameed Dashti is facing trial for criticising Bahrain leaders, while former Islamist MP Mubarak Al Duwailah was questioned over comments critical of the UAE.
Since a political crisis in June 2012, Kuwaiti authorities have ramped up efforts to curtail dissent.
Courts have sentenced politicians, online activists and journalists to prison terms for exercising free speech rights, Human Rights Watch said this month.
