The authorities in Kuwait are continuing their crackdown against support for Mohamed ElBaradei among the emirate's large Egyptian community. Yesterday, 17 ElBaradei supporters were expelled.

A total of 34 Egyptians have been arrested in Kuwait, according to ElBaradei's National Association for Change – four on Thursday and 30 on Friday. Some of those arrested on Friday were attending a meeting which had been advertised on the internet.

The National Association for Change has begun establishing branches among Egyptian communities abroad. One in Britain, which held a meeting last week, is said to have 300 members.

So far, neither Egyptian nor Kuwaiti officials have had much to say about the arrests and deportations. The Egyptian foreign ministry said it was "aware" of the arrests (through the media) but it doesn't appear to have made any diplomatic representations on behalf of those involved.

While it's possible that Kuwait is simply trying to stop political activity among its expatriate workers, others suspect collusion between the Kuwaiti government and the Mubarak regime.

Yesterday, Human Rights Watch issued a statement condemning the arrests and deportations. "Kuwait is enabling Egypt’s repression by harassing ElBaradei supporters,” it said.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 11 April 2010.