The authorities in Kuwait are cracking down on efforts to organise support for Mohamed ElBaradei among the emirate's large Egyptian community.

Three people were arrested earlier this week just hours before they were due to launch the Independent Campaign for Support of ElBaradei in Kuwait. Another report (in Arabic) says as many as 10 were arrested. 

T-shirts supporting ElBaradei are also said to have beenconfiscated in Kuwait.

A Kuwaiti official quoted by Alaan website cited security concerns and said: "We will not accept Kuwait being turned into an arena for external conflicts."

ElBaradei, a winner of the Nobel peace prize and former head of the International Atomic Energy Authority, is a possible contender for the Egyptian presidency in next year's election. His sceptical stance at the IAEA over Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction probably did nothing to win him friends among Kuwaitis.

About half a million Egyptians are thought to be living or working in Kuwait – which raises questions about their right to free expression.

Meanwhile, Egyptian writer Alaa Al Aswany views the clampdown on pro-ElBaradei activity in Kuwait as a case of Arab regimes banding together to resist change – "brothers in repression, oppression and tyranny," as he puts it.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 10 April 2010.