Kuwait warns against campaigning for candidates

Manama: Kuwait has pledged a zero-tolerance policy towards organising campaigns or using mosques to promote candidates in Egypt's presidential elections.

As the May 24 date for the first round of the historic elections approaches, several Egyptians living in Kuwait have used mosques to encourage their fellow citizens to vote for Mohammad Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate.

However, Kuwait said foreigners did not have the right to organise political rallies or to campaign for candidates and urged all expatriates to comply with the law.

On Friday, five Egyptians were briefly detained for distributing leaflets calling for casting ballots in favour of Morsi.

Seized brochures

The police seized more than 1,000 brochures during the operation to break up a rally organised after Friday prayers at a mosque in Kuwait City, local Arabic daily Al Anba reported.

The five Egyptians said they wanted the Muslim Brotherhood to win the presidential elections. The police made them sign a pledge to refrain from engaging in campaigns to promote candidates or engaging in unlicensed political activism before allowing them to go home, the daily said.

According to security sources that the paper did not name, Shaikh Ahamd Al Humoud, the Interior Minister, has told the interior ministry to ensure that mosques are not used to campaign for any of the candidates vying for the presidency in Egypt.