Dubai: Kuwait's public prosecution on Monday issued arrest warrants for members of the ruling family after they reportedly attacked a privately-owned television station, whose owner went on air and accused their grandfather of an early 20th century bloody attempt to depose his cousin, the emirate's ruler at that time.
The attack and the subsequent arrest warrants are bound to heighten the already tense political situation in Kuwait, a source told Gulf News.
Eyewitnesses told Gulf News some "150 people" attacked the station, which has since stopped broadcasting. Police said the alleged attack was led by Shaikh Faisal Al Homoud Al Malek Al Sabah, Kuwait's ambassador to Jordan.
The attack followed a live talk show in which the owner of the station, former MP Talal Al Saeed accused the Malek family, a smaller branch of the ruling Al Sabah family, of an attempt to depose Shaikh Mubarak Al Sabah, the founder of modern Kuwait in the early 1900s.
A senior member of the Al Malek family, Shaikh Faisal Malek Al Malek Al Sabah, is Undersecretary in the Ministry of Information.
Earlier in the week, he referred Talal's sister and Scope TV co-owner to court, accusing her of "an attempt to overthrow the regime" over a politically-charged satire show aired in August, which made fun of MPs, ministers and senior officials.
Angered by the charges, Talal Al Saeed went on the air on Sunday night and blasted the undersecretary and the Al Malek family.
"My grandfather was the one who arrested your grandfather and other Al Maleks when they wanted to depose the Emir. We know the history and you know the history. My sister cannot plot to overthrow a regime her grandfather protected from your family which wanted to stage a bloody coup," Al Saeed said on his weekly live show.
Smashed windows
Shortly after, members of the Malek family attacked the station, breaking windows and equipment and abused its staff. The police intervened and restored order by late Sunday evening.
Among those facing arrest are Shaikh Faisal Al Malek Al Sabah and his brother, police Major Shaikh Abdullah, who heads the intelligence department at the airport, Kuwait media reported.
"The arrest warrants against a number of members of [the] Al Malek Al Sabah [family] are arbitrary," defence lawyer Abdul Mohsin Qattan was quoted as saying by the media.
"They should have been summoned first, but the prosecution issued the arrest warrants," Qattan said, adding that some of them are holding "sensitive positions".
He denied the charges against his clients.
