Arrest of blogger Shimmari draws ire

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 22: The Public Prosecutor’s Office yesterday released Abdulaziz Al-Shimmari on KD 500 bail and ordered the confiscation of his equipment, reports Al-Rai daily.

The daily said, Al-Shimmari was charged with running the Al-Majlis account on Twitter.

He was arrested by personnel from the Criminal Investigations Department. However, many have raised eyebrows because of the timing of the arrest and the manner in which he was arrested.

Sources said they are surprised of the move by the security services in the Ministry of Interior, particularly the Criminal Investigations Department since so many complaints had earlier been filed by senior officials and other organizations such as the Al-Rai Media Group but the concerned security authorities were ‘reluctant’ to act.

The sources said the arrest came following a complaint filed by an unidentified person — complaint of financial nature as if the earlier complaints which had been filed were unworthy.

The sources concluded the manner in which Al-Shimmari was arrested raises doubts. He was picked up from in front of a mosque by the detectives armed with an arrest warrant from the Public Prosecution.

The detectives made it look like they were carrying out a special operation to arrest a fugitive who was escaping justice although this could have been done by officially summoning him either by telephone or an official letter for interrogation on the strength of several complaints that had been filed against him.