Kuwait Won't Deport Activists to Syria

Kuwait will not deport activists who stormed the Syrian embassy back to their homeland due to fears about their safety, Interior Minister Sheikh Ahmed al-Humoud said on Tuesday.

"We will provide all guarantees for a fair trial to them and after the ruling is issued, we will deport them to a country of their choice," the minister said in a statement.

The statement came after a large number of MPs in the newly elected parliament warned authorities the activists would be executed if they were deported to Syria.

The independent Kuwait Society for Human Rights also called on authorities to stop any plan to deport the detained Syrians because there is enough justification to believe they will be tortured or killed.

The minister did not provide a figure for those arrested when Syrians and Kuwaiti activists stormed the embassy on Saturday, but a security source said that about 40 people were detained, two of them Kuwaitis.

Sheikh Ahmed said the Syrians were being detained by the secret service police.