KUWAIT CITY, 1 April 2005 — A Kuwaiti judge has renewed the detention of prominent Sunni Muslim cleric Sheikh Hamed Al-Ali for another 15 days for allegedly inciting terror, one of his lawyers was quoted as saying yesterday.
Mubarak Al-Mutawa told Al-Anbaa daily that the public prosecutor has charged the sheikh with inciting suspected militants who fought gun battles with security forces in January.
The cleric was also charged with assisting the militants, Al-Mutawa said.
He was arrested on March 12 and remanded in custody for 21 days pending investigations. He has denied both charges saying his speeches were only an expression of his opinion and never meant to be used by the militants.
Local reports said that the militants used his anti-US sermons as a justification for fighting against Kuwaiti security forces.
Last August, the cleric was questioned by the public prosecutor on charges that he had called for jihad against US forces in Iraq. He was freed without bail.
In June, he was handed a two-year suspended jail sentence for publicly opposing Kuwait’s support for the US-led war on Iraq in March 2003 which toppled President Saddam Hussein.
The government blocked the cleric’s website last month as part of a crackdown on activities viewed as linked to terror.
