The Kuwaiti judiciary released a Shiite former lawmaker on bail Thursday after questioning him about the eulogy of a slain Hezbollah militant that has raised sectarian tensions in this small Gulf state and strong U.S. ally.Abdul-Mohsen Jamal was freed after paying 5,000 Kuwaiti dinars (US$18,580 , €11,928), his lawyer Abdul-Karim bin Haidar said.
He was the last of six Shiite Muslim Kuwaitis, including a preacher, to be released after questioning this week. The group had participated in an eulogy praising Lebanese Hezbollah militant Imad Mughniyeh as a hero after he was killed by a car bomb in Syria last month. The eulogy sparked an outcry among Kuwait's Sunni majority. The Cabinet said it was insensitive to other Kuwaitis who blame the Shiite Hezbollah militant for a 1988 hijacking of a Kuwait Airways flight and the murder of two Kuwaiti passengers.
Lawyer bin Haidar said many of those questioned this week had not attended the eulogy and were interrogated about belonging to an alleged branch of Hezbollah in Kuwait.
Prosecutors have asked that parliamentary immunity of two Shiite legislators who took part in the eulogy be lifted so that they can be questioned. Adnan-Abdul Samad and Ahmed Lari were expelled from their parliamentary bloc for praising Mughniyeh, but they remain members of parliament.