Gulf | Kuwait

Kuwait summons Islamist activist

Al Mutairi wrote article 10 years ago which is deemed to undermine Emir’s status

  • AFP
  • Published: 18:28 November 12, 2012
  • Gulf News

Kuwait City: Kuwait’s public prosecution has summoned Islamist activist Hakem Al Mutairi over an article he wrote 10 years ago and deemed to undermine the Emir’s status, the writer said yesterday.

Al Mutairi, a former president of the Islamist Ummah Party, said on Twitter that he was called in for interrogation over the article that was first posted in 2003 and then reprinted in the Kuwaiti newspaper Alam Al Youm in 2007.

“The public prosecution has accused the editor of Alam Al Youm (Abdul Hamid Al Daas) and myself of undermining the status of the emir,” said Al Mutairi, who is a professor of Islamic affairs at Kuwait University.

“Authorities think that through these oppressive measures, they will stop me from challenging tyranny. This didn’t work before the Arab Spring, how will it work now?” Al Mutairi said.

The article covered Al Mutairi’s view that the Arab world needs fundamental change and reform to achieve justice and equality, saying such objectives can be achieved through peaceful protests.

The Islamist Ummah Party was founded in Kuwait in 2005 but the government has not recognised it because political parties are not legal in the Gulf though many groups operate freely as de facto parties.

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