KUWAIT: Kuwait will put two citizens on trial for criticizing Gulf Arab ruling families on social media site Twitter, a security official said Monday.
Nasser Abul, a Kuwaiti Shiite Muslim, was arrested for posting criticisms of the Sunni Muslim ruling families in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, and Lawrence al-Rashidi posted defamatory comments of Kuwait’s emir, he said.
He said both would remain in detention for two more weeks before a hearing is scheduled, where they will likely face charges of harming the Gulf Arab state’s interests and defaming the country’s ruler. They were arrested earlier in June.

Democracy activists have used social media such as Facebook and Twitter to debate, organize and share information in Bahrain, where the kingdom’s Sunni rulers crushed a protest movement in March led mostly by the country’s Shiite majority.

Bahrain called in troops from Sunni-led neighbors Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to enforce its crackdown. OPEC member Kuwait, which has a Shiite minority, sent naval forces.
Bahrain questioned a rights activist in April for publishing an image which appeared to show signs of torture on a man who died in detention during the unrest. It is not clear if the case will be brought to court.
Gulf states, run by closely allied ruling families, are trying to stop protest movements like those that removed the presidents of Egypt and Tunisia from taking off in their patch.