7. An arrest warrant was then issued at the end of 2015 after a tweet which the
authorities claimed was insulting to Islam.
8. The current prosecution stems from four tweets posted on 7 September 2016 (see
translation below). When (hostile) readers on Twitter began to message her
questioning the meaning of the tweets, she sought to explain/justify them, putting the
four tweets into one photo-image which she then re-posted on 9 September 2016 and
then again on 22 September 2016.
9. She first became aware of a police investigation on 22 September 2016 when the
news feed of a Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai reported that a warrant had been issued.
10. On Friday 23 September 2016, police visited her family home and, in her absence,
relayed a message that she should report to the authorities.
11. On Sunday 25 September 2016, she attended the Public Prosecutor’s department
located within the central Court building where she was informed of the three charges
being brought against her. She was permitted to have lawyers present with her.
12. She was then transferred to a Criminal Investigations building where she was detained
in a cell from around midday to 8am the following morning. The cell contained only a
mattress on the floor, there was no window/natural light, air-conditioning was kept on
despite repeated requests by the detainee for it to be turned off, and LED strip-lighting
was maintained throughout the night, preventing sleep.
13. She was transferred again to the Public Prosecution Office before a decision was
taken to designate her case as one involving “state security” and to detain her on
remand for 21 days in Sulaibiya Central prison. The 21-day remand is a provision in
Kuwaiti law designed for state security and other serious cases where detention is
deemed necessary following charges being brought.
14. On her second day in detention, Al-Drees refused to eat and was relocated to a
medical wing for assessment by a nurse before being moved back to the general
prison population. She was given a legal disclaimer to sign by the Governor of the
prison, which stated that refusal to take food and water was an act of her own volition
for which the prison could not be held responsible. Over the next 10 days, she was
assessed off the wing at least three times and then transferred back into her cell, which
she shared with five other people.
15. On 26 September 2016, Al-Drees’ legal team first sought an expedited bail hearing
and challenged the application of the 21-day remand in her case.
16. However, it took until 6 October 2016, after 11 days in detention, for a bail hearing to
be held.
17. Al-Drees was conveyed to Court for the hearing handcuffed by both the wrist and the
legs, with three police cars and armed soldiers in attendance.
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