Kuwait: Islamists held in the UAE, accused of plotting to destabilise the country, were financed by Kuwaiti nationals, Kuwaiti media reported on Friday.
The UAE has detained more than 60 Islamists in the past year who it believes belong to the Muslim Brotherhood. The UAE has repeatedly said that the detainees were receiving financial support from individuals in other Gulf Arab states, but had stopped short of naming those countries.
Several newspapers yesterday quoted Kuwaiti parliamentarians as saying Prime Minister Shaikh Jaber Al Mubarak Al Sabah informed them at a confidential meeting held on Thursday that Kuwaiti nationals had been providing financial support to Muslim Brotherhood members in the UAE.
“Yes, there was financing coming from Kuwait,” Shaikh Jaber told the parliamentarians in the session, according to the Arabic-language daily Al Watan.
Shaikh Jaber gave no further details, Al Watan reported, adding only: “We can’t announce the names before they have been referred to the courts.”
The pan-Arab Asharq Al Awsat carried a similar report, quoting two MPs as confirming the prime minister’s comments.
A government spokesman in Kuwait was not immediately available to comment.
