5 Kuwaiti Activists Arrested for Hanging Up Welcome-Home Signs

Five members of a leading political opposition group were arrested for hanging up welcome-home posters at Kuwait’s international airport, the organization’s founder said Tuesday.

The activists from the Islamic Constitutional Movement have been held incommunicado in a state security headquarters since their arrest over the weekend, said Isa Shaheen, a group spokesman. The fundamentalist Sunni Muslim group is one of seven opposition factions that united to press for political reform in Kuwait after it was liberated in February.

Supporters were hanging up posters and signs to greet Kuwaitis returning from exile when police arrested them, Shaheen said. Interior Ministry officials told members of the movement that its activists were arrested because they had no license to put up posters, Shaheen said.

In a meeting with reporters Tuesday night, the interior minister, Sheik Ahmed al Jabbar al Sabah, said the men would be released if they signed papers promising not to repeat their actions.

Sami Khatrash, another spokesman, said he believes that his group was targeted because it is one of the most active and visible opposition organizations. “I think they (government officials) don’t like the political opposition to make any activities,” he said. “They don’t want anybody to speak aloud.”