AFP/Kuwait
Kuwait’s public prosecutor yesterday extended the detention of prominent opposition leader Mussallam al-Barrak over remarks deemed critical of the emir, in a crackdown on dissent ahead of December snap polls, his lawyer said. Candidates, meanwhile, began registering for the December 1 legislative polls amid a total boycott by the opposition. “The attorney decided to detain Barrak for 10 days starting from Monday, the day he was arrested, pending further investigation,” Mohamed Abdulqader al-Jassem told AFP. Former MP Barrak was interrogated for five hours on Tuesday on accusations that he undermined the status of the emir at a rally on October 15 when he warned against amending the disputed electoral law and also cautioned Kuwait was becoming autocratic. The prosecutor, however, freed another opposition figure, former MP Faisal al-Muslim, on a $355 bail after questioning him on similar charges, his lawyer Abdullah al-Muslim said on Twitter. Muslim was the sixth former opposition MP to have been summoned for interrogation on accusations of making public remarks critical of Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah. Last week, the court released three former opposition lawmakers after five days in custody on similar accusations and freed a fourth former MP after a brief interrogation. Separately, the foreign ministry said late Tuesday it would take legal action against Jassem, who is also a prominent opposition writer, over an article deemed offensive to leaders in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Jassem told AFP yesterday that the authorities have yet to notify him of any legal action. “I have not broken the law in my article and did not threaten anyone,” he said. He was jailed on three occasions in 2009, 2010 and 2011 for a total of over four months for allegedly criticising the emir and former premier. The current crisis flared after the government decided to amend the electoral law in what the opposition claims is a step aimed at electing a rubber stamp parliament. More than 100 protesters were hurt at a massive rally on October 21 organised by the opposition to demonstrate against the amendment. The opposition is also planning a second protest on November 4. Twenty-nine candidates registered yesterday—the opening day for registering their names for the polls—compared to 109 on the first day of registration in the previous election. The present registration process ends on November 9. “Today, we are at a crossroad. Kuwait is witnessing a state of political instability and certain quarters are fuelling tension,” said former MP Maasouma al-Mubarak after registering herself as a candidate. A dozen activists from the Civil Democratic Movement, an opposition youth group, staged a symbolic protest outside the interior ministry’s election department in Kuwait City after it started registering the candidates. “These elections are illegitimate and the Kuwaiti people will not accept it ... This is not democracy but a silly play,” read a banner carried by the activists. The new elections are the second this year and the fifth since mid-2006 amid political turmoil in the emirate. The February legislative polls, in which the opposition won a landslide victory, were nullified by the constitutional court on June 20 on the grounds of flawed procedures. The court also scrapped parliament and reinstated the pro-government house elected in 2009. The latter was eventually dissolved early October and snap polls were called. Kuwait has been rocked by almost non-stop political crises since 2006 during which nine cabinets were forced to resign and parliament was dissolved on six occasions.