Lebanon's Shiites criticizes arrests of Shiite clergy in Kuwait

Mar 10, 2008, 19:30 GMT

Beirut - Lebanon's top Shiite Muslim Cleric Sheikh Abdul Amir Kabalan on Monday denounced the arrest in Kuwait of Shiite cleric Hussein al-Matouq for organizing a memorial service for a slain official of the Hezbollah movement.

The Lebanese Shiite movement's military commander Imad Mughaniyeh was killed in a car bomb blast in Damascus, Syria on February 12. Kuwait had accused Mughaniyeh of a hijacking of two Kuwaiti jetliners and killing two Kuwaiti passengers in the 1980s.

Kabalan urged the Emir of Kuwait to exonerate 'the detainees who had taken part in mourning a leader of the resistance who had devoted his life to defend the nation.'

Kuwaiti judiciary on Monday renewed the arrest of six Shiite activists, including two former members of parliament, on charges of involvement in the service to mourn Mughaniyeh.

The move by the predominantly Sunni Kuwait was also denounced pro- Iranian Lebanese Shiite cleric Afif al-Nabulisi, who said al-Matouq's arrest provoked 'concern' within Shiite religious circles in Lebanon.

'We urge the political leadership of Kuwait to speed up the release of Sheikh Hussein al-Matouq.'