A prolific tweeter who expressed frequent criticism of both the Bahraini and Saudi royal families has been detained in Kuwait.
Nasser Abul routinely tweeted about the anti-government protests in Bahrain and uploaded graphic images of activists killed during the often violent demonstrations.
As Dr. Tal Pavel points out, Abul is certainly not the first Internet protestor to be arrested in Kuwait, with a local blogger recently forced to served two months in prison for “slandering” the prime minister.
“Damaging the image of state officials is a Middle Eastern taboo, damaging information and criticism are not meant to be published on the Internet,” Pavel wrote in the Israeli daily Ha’aretz.
“With this in mind, Abul’s detention does not seem surprising, especially considering Kuwait’s important ties with Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.”
Nevertheless, Kuwait does not have a particularly bad rep when it comes to freedom of expression.
“It is not considered one of the ‘world’s enemies of the Internet,’ and it is at the top of the list of countries in the region that protect individual freedom and freedom of expression,” he added.
