KUWAIT CITY: Hundreds of Kuwaitis have rallied in support of a writer critical of the government who remained behind bars for the ninth day on Wednesday facing charges of plotting to overthrow the regime.
Addressing the rally organized outside parliament on Tuesday night, MPs, heads of political groups and activists called for the immediate release of Mohammed Abdulqader Al-Jassem who is serving out a 21-day detention order.
Opposition lawmaker Mussallam Al-Barrak said Jassem committed no crime in expressing his opinion and "it is the government which should be behind bars now."
The head of the liberal National Democratic Alliance, Khaled Al-Fadhalah, said defending Jassem amounted to defending freedom.
"We can perhaps overlook a graft of several million dinars or cheques issued to certain people, but we will never bargain on freedom," Fadhalah said.
Meanwhile, the head of the Islamic Ummah Party, Awwad Al-Dhafiri, said "90 percent of Kuwaiti people read Jassem’s articles, so let them put the Kuwaiti people in jail."
Jassem, 54, was arrested on May 11 and accused of instigating to overthrow the regime, undermining the status of the emir and inciting to dismantle the foundations of Kuwaiti society.
The lawsuit was filed by the minister of the royal court, Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad, the elder son of Kuwait’s ruler.
It was based on articles written by Jassem on his website in the past five years that were deemed too critical, and also on three books the ailing writer has authored on the political situation in the Gulf state.
Following his arrest, Jassem, a heart patient, went on hunger strike and was rushed to hospital after collapsing during an interrogation session on Saturday, according to his lawyer.
Jassem’s daughter Summaya told AFP on Wednesday that he has stopped the hunger strike.
Members of parliament’s human rights committee visited Jassem at the central jail on Wednesday and called for his immediate release.
"We don’t want to see any writer behind bars … We urge the government and the public prosecution to release Jassem … and allow him to go to his family," a committee member, MP Khaled Al-Adwah, told reporters.
Ten civil society organizations, in a statement, strongly criticized the detention of Jassem for expressing his opinion and called on MPs to amend the law to prevent the arrest of writers and journalists in the future.
Several international and local human rights and press organizations, in addition to Kuwaiti MPs and activists, have called for the immediate release of Jassem, who is facing several other lawsuits filed by the prime minister.
Activists plan to hold another rally next week.
