Nasser Abul

Nasser Abul
Nationality Kuwaiti
Known for democracy activism, 2011 imprisonment for tweeting

Nasser Abul is a Kuwaiti online activist.[1] On 7 July 2011, he was imprisoned by the government of Kuwait on state security charges, following a series of tweets in support of Arab Spring protesters in Bahrain.[2][3] Sheikh Abdullah Mohammed bin Ahmed Al Fateh Al Khalifa of Bahrain's ruling Al Khalifa family thanked the Kuwaiti government for Abul's arrest and also announced his intention to file a private libel suit against Abul.[1]

Following his arrest, Abul stated that the most inflammatory tweets on his account had been posted by hackers, and that when he became aware of the tweets, he had deleted them with his iPhone.[4] Abul has alleged that he was beaten and subjected to sleep deprivation in the first two days of his detention; according to his lawyer, Abul was also denied counsel for several hearings.[5] One week after his arrest, Amnesty International named him a prisoner of conscience and called for his immediate release.[2] Human Rights Watch also demanded that the charges against him be dropped, with a representative stating that "Kuwait has sunk to a new low by arresting people just for posting criticism of governments on the internet."[5] On 19 September, Kuwaiti MP Faisal Al-Duwaisan, Chairman of the Human Rights Committee, requested Abul's release, calling it "a shame to taint Kuwait’s human rights history".[4]

On 27 September 2011, Abul was released from Kuwait Central Prison.[6]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Priyanka Motaparthy (24 August 2011). "Jailed for tweeting in Kuwait". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  2. 1 2 "Kuwaiti Arrested for Tweeting About Protests" (PDF). Amnesty International. 15 June 2011. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  3. ↑ Matthew Weaver and Paul Owen (24 June 2011). "Syria, Libya and Middle East unrest - Friday 24 June 2011". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  4. 1 2 Nihal Sharaf (19 September 2011). "Release Twitter activist Nasser Abul: Al-Duwaisan". The Arab Times. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  5. 1 2 "Kuwait: Release Jailed Internet Scribes". Human Rights Watch. 13 July 2011. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  6. ↑ "Urgent action (follow up) : Kuwait. Online activist Nasser Abul sentenced for tweeting.". Amnesty International. 29 September 2011. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
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