Kuwait - A Kuwaiti man charged with defaming the Prophet Mohammad on Twitter as well as insulting the rulers of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia will stand trial on May 21 and plead not guilty, his lawyer said on Monday.
The case of Shi'ite Muslim Hamad al-Naqi, who faces up to 10 years in jail if convicted, has caused uproar i n the Gulf Arab state, where dozens of Sunni Muslim activists and lawmakers have protested against his alleged crime in the streets. Some have called for him to be put to death.
Blasphemy is illegal under Kuwaiti law as is libel.
Naqi was arrested in March and charged with defaming the Islamic faith and the Prophet Mohammad, as well as his companions and his own wife on the popular micro blog. Prosecutors later charged him with insulting the rulers of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia on Twitter too.
Naqi has told police that he did not make any of the comments and that his account was hacked.
Earlier this month, lawmakers endorsed a legal amendment that could make such crimes - if committed by Muslims - punishable by death.
Naqi's lawyer said the amendment should not affect his client however.
“The new law does not affect this case because it happened in the past,” his lawyer, Khaled al-Shatti, told Reuters. “The new law will only take effect in the future,” he said.
If Naqi is found guilty of endangering state security the maximum penalty he could face would be 10 years in jail, Shatti added.
Twitter is extremely popular in Kuwait. One million accounts were registered in the country of 3.6 million as of April, a two-fold rise in 12 months, according to Paris-based Semiocast, which compiles Twitter data.
Although Kuwait has largely been spared the sectarian violence that has flared in other countries in the region, the Sunni government is acutely aware of the risk of tensions between Sunnis and minority Shi'ites boiling over.
The authorities are particularly sensitive to developments in Bahrain, where the Sunni monarchy has cracked down on mainly Shi'ite Muslim protesters.
In the past, those convicted of blasphemy in Kuwait or of insulting Gulf rulers have faced fines or jail terms of varying lengths depending on the severity of the comments, lawyers say. - Reuters