Kuwaiti Red Lines

Kuwait's royal family reinforces that Kuwaiti democracy has limits:

"Kuwaiti state security police on Sunday arrested a candidate standing in next month’s parliamentary election after he publicly criticised the ruling family, an AFP photographer said.

"A group of police took municipal council member Khalifa al-Khorafi for questioning from his home in a suburb of Kuwait City in the third such arrest reported ahead of the May election, the photographer said.

"Khorafi, a member of one of Kuwait’s wealthiest families, and a relative of former speaker Jassem al-Khorafi, had told a private television station last week that the ruling Sabah family was incapable of running the Gulf state...

"Police on Thursday arrested former MP Daifallah Buramia for allegedly saying that Defence Minister Sheikh Jaber al-Mubarak al-Sabah, a senior member of the ruling family, was ‘not fit’ to become prime minister.

"He faces charges of degrading the powers of the emir and violating the press and publications law."