“The suspect insisted he had been carrying out these activities out of ‘religious fervor’ as a Muslim.”
Another misunderstander of his religion. And it’s interesting to note the Kuwaiti paper’s use of terms like “jihad” and “jihadists.” They must have missed the State Department memo about how that sort of thing supposedly inflames or confuses the Islamic world. “Citizen arrested for recruiting jihadists,” from the Kuwait Times, July 12:
KUWAIT: Security officials disclosed that a citizen has been referred to the public prosecutor. They said the man, identified only as MA has been charged with encouraging, mobilizing and recruiting young and impressionable youths to fight US forces in Afghanistan.
The State Security ordered the suspect to be referred to the public prosecutor, where he admitted to recruiting five other citizens who had already left for Afghanistan to engage in jihadist activities. He also confessed to providing the recruits with the sufficient funds required for travel to Afghanistan via Iranian territories. Some of those who travelled to Afghanistan have returned to Kuwait, he added.
During his initial testimony, the suspect insisted he had been carrying out these activities out of ‘religious fervor’ as a Muslim, reported Al-Jarida. “Afghanistan is a Muslim country,” he claimed in a statement and added that he had already set up a communication network link between Afghanistan and Iran to facilitate ‘safe passage’ for all recruits. He also admitted to recruiting citizens who were engaged in jihad in Tora Bora.
Interrogations also revealed that the suspect is closely related to clergyman Mubarak Al-Bathali, who during previous interrogations, had also admitted to carrying out similar activities. The public prosecutor’s office ordered the state security investigators to initiate and conclude investigations over the accused men’s connections with like-minded groups abroad, as well as the total number of citizens recruited for the purpose.