ICC Note:

“Kuwaiti authorities arrested a man Tuesday for insulting the Prophet Muhammad via his Twitter account, based on a Sharia-based blasphemy law,” the Christian Post reports.

By Luiza Oleszczuk

3/28/2012 Kuwait (Christian Post) – Kuwaiti authorities arrested a man Tuesday for insulting the Prophet Muhammad via his Twitter account, based on a Sharia-based blasphemy law, which is highly regarded in the mostly Sunni Muslim country. The incident reportedly drew calls for the man’s death.

The unidentified man defamed the Islamic faith and slandered the Prophet Muhammad, his companions and his wife, the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry said in a statement issued on state-run news agency KUNA. It was not immediately clear what the comments were. The ministry said it regretted the abuse of social networks by “some individuals” to offend basic Islamic and spiritual values and declared zero tolerance in combating such “serious offenses.”

The man, remaining anonymous in media reports, denied the accusations. “I will never attack the Holy Prophet,” he reportedly said and suggested someone hacked his account to post the comments. The man is reportedly being interrogated while awaiting judicial proceedings.

Although imprisonment is possible, Kuwait does not usually punish blasphemy with death, as is possible in neighboring Saudi Arabia, where a journalist was accused of tweeting comments offending the prophet, which drew calls for his death.

However, several members of the Kuwaiti parliament called for the offending man to be killed, and some even suggested that people would take justice in their own hands if the government fails to deliver a death sentence, reported the Arab Times.

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