Fadel Farhan Saket (Abu Turki), a human rights activist who defends the rights of the Bedoon community on a regular basis, has been summoned for investigation regarding his peaceful online activism and defense of human rights.  

He uses his Twitter account, which has on the top of it the phrase, “It was said in freedom… Do not accept a life in which you do not feel alive,” to defend his civil and human rights as a Bedoon citizen and the rights of his fellow members of the Bedoon community in Kuwait, foremost of which is their legitimate right to obtain Kuwaiti citizenship.

On 07 August 2023, he tweeted: “Oh, government, there must be a solution to our case #Kuwaitis_Bedoon.” His tweet also included a call to abolish the Central Apparatus for Illegal Residents’ Affairs, which was established in 2010 to address the chronic problems facing the Bedoon community, but failed to deliver any effective solution.

On 10 August 2023, Abu Turki went to the General Directorate of Criminal Investigation building after he received a summons from one of its departments, the Cyber Crime Combatting Department. He was arrested as soon as he entered the building and placed in the Central Prison after the Public Prosecution decided to detain him for 21 days pending investigation.

Local reports confirmed that the arrest and detention of Abu Turki, who is a member of the Bedoon community in Kuwait, is related to his recent posts on his Twitter account. The former member of the National Assembly, Mohammed Al-Juwaihel, filed a complaint against him due to his tweets.

The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) had previously documented his arrest on 31 August 2022, along with three fellow Bedoon rights defenders, who were not released until 15 September 2022.

Upon his arrest, fellow human rights defenders launched the following hashtag on Twitter, calling for his release: #Freedom_ToAbuTurki

GCHR declares its full solidarity with human rights activist Fadel Farhan Saket, and calls on the authorities in Kuwait to respect the civil and human rights of citizens, foremost of which is freedom of expression.

GCHR calls on the Kuwaiti authorities to:

1. Immediately and unconditionally release human rights defender Fadel Farhan Saket (Abu Turki);
2. Protect public freedoms, especially freedom of expression online and offline, including by immediately stopping the targeting of human rights activists; and
3. Ensure in all circumstances that human rights defenders in Kuwait can carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals or restrictions, including judicial harassment.