Kuwait Detains Stateless Protesters for 3 Weeks

Kuwait's public prosecutor has ordered 61 stateless men be detained for three weeks pending a probe into their alleged involvement in protests that turned violent, their lawyer said Thursday.

The men were arrested in mid-January when riot police cracked down on thousands of stateless protesters who were demanding the right to Kuwaiti citizenship and a host of basic rights.

"The prosecutor ordered that all of the 61 men be sent to the central jail for 21 days pending further investigation and trial," the lawyer, Ali al-Sabri, told Agence France Presse.

The detainees have been questioned on charges of assaulting policemen and taking part in illegal gatherings, said Sabri.

The prosecutor also issued an order on Wednesday for the arrest of 21 Kuwaitis and stateless activists, including Fahad Samawi, a candidate in general elections, for "instigating" demonstrations, he added.

Encouraged by the Arab Spring protests, stateless people staged demonstrations in February and March last year. They renewed their protests in December to press authorities to resolve their decades-old plight.

Fifty-two stateless people, locally known as bidoon, who were arrested in February and March are being tried for protesting, while 32 others detained in December were released on bail pending trial.

In a bid to force the bidoon to produce their original nationality papers, Kuwait has refused to issue essential documents to most of them, including birth, marriage and death certificates, Human Rights Watch reported in June.

Local media reported last week that authorities have decided to deport some of the bidoon who took part in protests which turned violent.

Kuwait says only 34,000 out of the 105,000 bidoon present in the Gulf state are eligible for citizenship, while the remaining 71,000 are citizens of other countries who must produce their original passports.