Manama: Kuwait’s public prosecution in Sunday extended by ten days the detention of bloggers held for posting comments abusive of the late Saudi king Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud on their Twitter accounts.
The public prosecution had ordered the arrests following a complaint by the i.nterior ministry, reports in Kuwait said
The bloggers face the charge of engaging in an act of animosity against Saudi Arabia through abusing its rulers in a manner that may impact Kuwait’s political relations, the daily said.
King Abdullah died in the first hour of January 23 and news of his death triggered an avalanche of messages of sympathy and praise and condolences by social media users went viral on the Internet.
However, some bloggers posted remarks that were deemed offensive to the late monarch and to his country.
A report in Kuwaiti daily Al Qabas last week said that 11 people had been arrested over their anti-King Abdullah tweets.
Citing a security source it did not name, the report said that foreigners were among those arrested.
It added that the Kuwaiti nationals would face legal action and that the foreigners would be deported amid a campaign of zero tolerance towards any abuses of neighbouring countries.
In Bahrain, the interior ministry last week reported on its Twitter account “the arrest of several people for inappropriate and inflammatory social media use.”
The ministry said that an investigation had been launched.
