Abu Dhabi: Egypt has succeeded in containing a crisis with Kuwait after the emergence of a video deemed offensive to the Gulf state.
The Egyptian Public Prosecution has said investigations with the accused in the “Kuwait Flag Burning Challenge” case, which caused a stir during the past week, showed that he did not intend to offend Kuwait but rather “to consolidate relations between the Egyptian and Kuwaiti peoples,” and the Public Prosecution ordered his release after the investigations.
In the video, an individual was shown offering pedestrians $500 in exchange for burning the Kuwaiti national flag. All pedestrians turned down the offer, refusing to insult Kuwait.
Prosecutors have probed the individual in the video. He explained that he did not seek to insult Kuwait, but rather wanted to show the strength of the relations between it and Egypt as demonstrated by how everyone rejected his offer.
He added that he sought to use the video to show how the Egyptian people cannot be lured by money to offend others. He said that the Egyptians chose the moral high ground despite an assault last month against an Egyptian worker in Kuwait.
Prosecutors verified that the person behind the video does not belong to any terrorist group and only sought to prove the strength of ties between the Egyptian and Kuwaiti people.
He has since been released.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri telephoned on Sunday his Kuwaiti counterpart Dr. Ahmed Nasser Al Mohammed Al Sabah to discussed bilateral relations.
Relations between Cairo and Kuwait have been strained in recent months. In July, Kuwaiti authorities arrested a citizen for slapping an Egyptian worker, which had sparked uproar on social media in Egypt.
In March, campaigns against Egyptian workers in Kuwait flooded social media over the excuse that they may have been infected by the novel coronavirus.
