Expat who tweeted insults, to be deported

Kuwait’s public prosecution has remanded an Egyptian expatriate in custody in a state security case related to insulting the Emir on the Twitter microblog. Kuwaiti media reported that the security forces have arrested the Egyptian man after he posted derogatory tweets on his account that insulted the current Emir Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad and the former Emir Shaikh Jaber Al Ahmad, said Gulf News.

The tweets also included pictures glorifying former Iraqi President Saddam Hussain as well as comments that hurt the feelings of Kuwaiti citizens, the reports said. The suspect denied the charges and insisted that his account had been hacked.

However, investigations concluded that his Twitter account had not been hacked and that the expatriate deliberately posted the offensive tweets under the belief that he would be deported by the authorities without facing a court trial.

He had reasoned that the deportation would help him dodge other lawsuits filed against him for conning people out of cash and for failing to pay amounts of money due to others. Several media users called for stringent action against him for insulting the country’s leaders and for taking advantage of his presence in Kuwait to abuse people’s trust and rob them of their money.

Kuwait has repeatedly warned against the use of social media, particularly Twitter, to insult the leaders of the country or to target other people.