Update: 15 pro-Sisi Egyptians deported from Kuwait

Kuwaiti officials said 15 Egyptians would be deported for taking part in a campaign rally in support of favored presidential candidate Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, which was described as an illegal rally, Reuters reported.

Quoting an unnamed Kuwaiti government source, Reuters reported that foreigners are not allowed to hold political events and there are restrictions on public rallies held by Kuwaitis.

Later on Monday, Egyptian Ambassador to Kuwait Abdel Kareem Suleiman confirmed the news to the state-owned Middle East News Agency (MENA), saying the fifteen Egyptians broke the Gulf state’s laws after gathering in a main street in the Fintas district, and had already been deported from the country.

Embassy officials have been closely following the case, from the initial arrest to the subsequent investigations and through their ultimate deportation, he said.

Egyptians in Kuwait must respect the country’s laws, Suleiman urged, adding that he had issued warnings in the past that such gatherings could have legal repercussions.

Suleiman also said that more than 65,000 expats cast their vote in Kuwait for Egypt’s next president.

The Egyptians were arrested after being seen traveling by bus south of the capital on Saturday, beating drums and waving, reported the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Watan. They were reportedly heading to join a larger group of Egyptians who were planning on expressing their support for Sisi at a rally, Reuters reported.

Egyptians abroad are currently voting in the two-candidate presidential election, where Sisi is contending with Nasserist politician Hamdeen Sabbahi. The Foreign Ministry has said that at least 300,000 Egyptians have cast their ballots at designated embassies and consulates around the world. Voting in Kuwait opened last Thursday.

Gulf states generally restrict political gatherings of expatriates in order to stave off possible tensions between the different sizeable communities. About two-thirds of Kuwait’s population of 3.8 million is made up of expatriates, according to Reuters. Similar demographics are found in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. 

Last year, Kuwait deported nine Egyptians who demonstrated against the army crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, Reuters reported.

In 2010, Kuwait deported 21 Egyptians who were part of the National Coalition for Change, a group formed by Mohamed ElBaradei, who had just returned to Egypt after a stint as head of the nuclear watchdog IAEA and was becoming a reformist leader.

At the time, Egyptian officials under the reign of ousted President Hosni Mubarak denied asking Kuwait to deport the group. Baradei’s coalition was speedily gathering signatures to petition to change the constitution and end the decades-long state of emergency.

The petition campaign was one of the factors in the momentum building up to what would become the January 25 uprising that led to Mubarak’s ouster, much to the chagrin of Kuwait and the UAE.

After a period of strained relations, which heightened under the yearlong presidency of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi, Egypt once again secured its tight alliances with Kuwait, the UAE and Saudi Arabia after Morsi was removed from office. The three have propped the army-backed interim government’s ailing finances with around $12 billion in financial support. 

Qatar, a strong supporter of the Morsi regime, is now almost completely politically estranged from Egypt.