Kuwait 'arrests critic of Sabahs'

Criticising the royal family in Kuwait has led several MP's to be arrested

Reports from Kuwait say a candidate standing in the parliamentary election has been arrested for publicly criticising the ruling al-Sabah family.

Khalifa al-Kharafi told a local TV station he did not believe the al-Sabah family was capable of running Kuwait.

This arrest comes days after another election candidate was detained after making similar criticisms.

Parliament was dissolved by the Kuwaiti emir in order to end a long running standoff with the government.

Political Freedom

Correspondents say Kuwait allows more political freedom than other Gulf states but criticising the ruling family is a sensitive issue.

The ruler has the last say in politics and al-Sabah family members also hold key cabinet portfolios such as defence, interior and foreign affairs.

Eyewitnesses said state security forces arrested Khalifa al-Kharafi on Sunday from his home and took him for questioning.

"I think these acts drive us to be a police state which we reject. This should not have been referred to state security but to the court," said Waleed al-Tabtabae, a witness to the arrest.

Last Thursday, police detained former MP Daifallah Buramia for allegedly saying that defence minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak al-Sabah, a senior member of the ruling family, was not fit to become prime minister.

He faces charges of disparaging the powers of the emir, who has the right to appoint the prime minister.

Oil-rich Kuwait has been rocked by a series of political crises in the past three years that saw the resignation of five governments and the dissolution of three parliaments.