Trial of Kuwait scholar in sectarian controversy postponed

Manama: A court in Kuwait on Thursday adjourned the trial of local scholar Abdullah Al Nafissi on charges of targeting the Shiite sect and the country’s national unity to November 7.

The case was the first to be considered by the court under the national unity law and its provisions that stipulated penalties and fines, local news site Al Aan reported.

The prosecution allowed Al Nafissi, 68, to go home on a KD5,000 (Dh65,051.5) bail, but it prevented him from leaving the country.

The case against him had been brought by Shiite lawmakers who charged that the scholar attacked the Shiite sect in a lecture and pushed for the application of the anti-hatred law.

However, reports in Kuwait quoted Ali Al Naqi, the head of the political bureau of the Conservatives’ Reform Movement, as stating that the speech by Al Nafissi did not include any attack on the Shiite sect.

“We opted to lapse into silence until we could listen to the lecture,” he posted in his Twitter account. “We listen to the full 55 minutes and there was nothing against the Shiites. There were information and analyses that could be right or wrong,” he said in April.