UAE To Try Kuwaiti Ex-MP For Insulting Leaders

A Kuwaiti national, who was previously a member of parliament, will stand trial at the UAE’s federal supreme court for insulting the leader of the Emirates and for accusing the state for being against Islam, state news agency WAM reported.

UAE Attorney General Salim Saeed Kubaish said that Mubarak Fahad Ali Fahad Al Duwailah was found guilty of “allegedly abusing religion to incite sedition, harm national unity, disturb social peace, and intentionally spread false news, circulate rumours and disseminate provocative and malicious propaganda”.

“The accused, during an offending interview with Al-Majlis television channel of Kuwait’s National Assembly, falsely alleged that the UAE was against the Sunni Islam school and was imposing such an approach on its authorities,” said Kubaish.

He added that the accused also openly insulted members of the UAE judiciary by falsely alleging that charges filed against some members of Muslim Brotherhood in 2013 were fabricated.

”These crimes – in which the suspects were convicted – targeted the state’s neutrality towards members of community and towards its security authorities and, therefore, were aimed at breaking the country’s social fabric, undermining its social stability and peace, stirring up sedition among people, disrupting public security and harming public interest, thus providing extremists with an excuse to subject the safety of public employees and citizens within the state and abroad and its representative entities to attacks and risks in addition to compromising the integrity and neutrality of the judiciary,” said Kubaish.

Al Duwailah is one of the major figures in the Islamic Constitutional Movement, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Kuwait.

The UAE and Saudi’s outlawing of the Muslim Brotherhood has irked hardline groups across the region, with many lashing out at the Gulf leaders.

Al Duwailah particularly singled out the UAE and its leader in the television interview he gave last year, saying that it was “Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed (Al-Nahyan) who personally has this position (on the Brotherhood) and has managed to impose it on the state.”

Kuwait was quick to distance itself from such comments, branding it as the view of a lone Islamist in the country.

Authorities also questioned the former MP in January this year for his comments against the UAE and for potentially angering a long-time ally.

However, Al Duwailah was let out on a bail of KD5000 after he denied all charges pressed against him.

He will be tried in absentia in the UAE, media reports stated.

With an escalation of geopolitical tension in the Middle East, the UAE has been tightening control over hardline fundamentalist groups.

The UAE has charged a number of its citizens and residents over the last two years for aiding the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group.