Kuwait deported four more Egyptians yesterday. Together with the 17 deported on Saturday, this brings the total so far to 21. Around 20 others are thought to be still under arrest in Kuwait.

Those arrested and expelled are believed to be supporters of the National Association for Change, a new Egyptian movement formed by Mohamed ElBaradei. ElBaradei – a Nobel peace prize winner and former head of the IAEA – has hinted that he may be a contender in Egypt's presidential election next year.

The movement has been establishing support groups among Egyptian communities abroad, and 379 people (out of a community of around half a million Egyptians in Kuwait) have signed up to the relevant Facebook page.

The Kuwaiti interior minister has told Human Rights Watch that those arrested and expelled broke Kuwait’s laws on public gatherings and committed slander by criticising President Hosni Mubarak. "They are visitors in Kuwait," he said. "When somebody breaks the law, he has to go back to his country ... We don’t allow demonstrations in this country."

A Kuwaiti law dating from 1979 prohibits non-citizens from taking part in processions, demonstrations, or public gatherings.

Regardless of the law (which in any case is an infringement of free speech), the authorities' behaviour has been extraordinarily heavy-handed considering the nature of the offence. Expatriate Egyptians are being deprived of their homes and livelihoods in Kuwait without a court hearing and for the most trivial of reasons.

The minister's reference to defaming Mubarak also suggests this is more about appeasing the Egyptian regime than any real concerns about public order.

Human Rights Watch describes some of the arrests:

Mohammad Farrag Mohammad al-Farghally, Tamar Farrag Mohammad al-Farghally, and Tariq Tharwat – Egyptian citizens detained on April 8 after they attended a small meeting of Baradei supporters at a local café – have not returned home or seen their families since late that night. Amira al-Farghally, Mohammad’s wife, told Human Rights Watch that four men in civilian clothing escorted her husband, in handcuffs, to their home around midnight on April 8. The officers stayed only a few minutes, seizing campaign t-shirts that pictured al-Baradei and the Egyptian flag with the slogan ‘Min agl it-taghyeer’ (For Change).

“When I asked them why they were arresting him, they said, ‘don’t worry yourself; we are just taking him to [the] investigations [department]; he will be back soon insha’allah,’" she said. “I am alone here in Kuwait, with just my 10-month-old son.

On the evening of April 9, a group of approximately 30 individuals met in front of the Sultan Center supermarket and restaurant in the Salmiya area to discuss a response to the first three arrests. The National Association for Change, a group formed by al-Baradei, posted the meeting and details on its website; participants had not met each other before. According to one attendee, state security officers suddenly converged upon those assembled, seizing between 15 and 20 of those present.

“They asked us why we were standing here. We said that we came here according to what we read on the internet, on Dr al-Baradei’s website,” the attendee told Human Rights Watch. He said that when those assembled told the security officers, “We are just sitting; we will go now,” they said, “It is forbidden to stand like this.” He said that then they started to take people away.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 12 April 2010.