KUWAIT CITY: A Shia newspaper in Kuwait faces trial for its use of the term “invasion” to report on the Saudi troop deployment in Bahrain to help quell protests, its editor and local media said on Tuesday.
“So far we have not received official notification, though we heard that we have been referred to the public prosecution for criticising Saudi Arabia,” Al-Dar newspaper editor Abdulhussein al-Sultan told AFP. Local media reported that Kuwait’s acting information minister, Roudhan Al-Roudhan, ordered the action after meeting with Sultan and asking him to stop articles that could damage relations between Arab states in the Gulf.
The meeting came after Al-Dar published a front-page article on “Saudi invasion” of Bahrain, Sultan told AFP.
“Roudhan conveyed wishes of the political leadership not to indulge in issues that undermine Gulf ties,” the editor said. “We always say yes to the emir’s wishes.”
Sectarian tensions between the majority Sunnis and the minority Shia community in Kuwait have soared over the uprising in Shia-majority Bahrain which is ruled by a Sunni royal family.
Sunni Islamist MPs vowed at a public gathering on Saturday to file to question the prime minister in parliament for not sending troops to Bahrain and accused Shiite Iran of meddling in Bahraini affairs.
Kuwait has so far remained silent and it remains unclear whether its troops have been sent to Bahrain, as announced by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates whose forces were deployed on March 16.
Bahrain’s army chief said on Monday that Kuwaiti navy units have joined other Gulf forces deployed in Bahrain for joint exercises.
Despite the lack of clarity, Kuwaiti Shiites have staged a rally to thank the government for not having sent troops to Bahrain in support of Manama as it cracks down on the kingdom’s mainly Shiite demonstrators.
