Four Bloggers in Kuwait Detained for Insulting Prince
On November 18th, the public prosecutor in Kuwait detained four bloggers for ten days, for allegedly insulting the Prince of Kuwait, Sabah Al Ahmad, on their respective blogs and twitter accounts. The bloggers: Naser El-Dihany, Rashed El-Anzi, Sakar El-Hashash, Rashed El-Anzi and Hamed El-Khaldi were sent from the center of criminal investigation to the central prison in Kuwait.
The four bloggers were summoned along with three other bloggers: Sarah Al Dris, Iyad Al Harbi, and Hijab Al Hajari on Wednesday. They were released on bail for a thousand Kuwaiti Dinnar, the equivalent of 3500 U.S Dollars.
A member of the Kuwaiti Parliament: Dr. Obeid Alwsami, attended the hearing, and tweeted on his account that he just left the center of criminal investigation and that the four bloggers are doing pretty well:
١-للتو خرجت من مبنى المباحث الجنائية بعد مقابلة مديرها العام والمتهمين الأربعة وجميعهم بصحة جيده ومعنويات مرتفعه ولم يبدوا أي اعتراض للمدير
— د.عبيد الوسمي (@Dr_alwasmi) November 18, 2012
The blogger Sakar El Hashash, author of http://en3kas.blogspot.com/ is known for his dissident writings featured on his blog and twitter account, where he has even been known to condemn the Prince of Kuwait, a brazen act rarely seen in the country.
Supporters of the bloggers have created a hashtag https://twitter.com/search?q=%23الحرية_لمعتقلي_تويتر&src=hash which can be translated as “freedom for twitter detainees.”
Although Kuwait is considered to be among the more tolerant countries in the Persian gulf, the government still detains bloggers and political activists.
