Kuwait & Tv 'anti-Shiite'

[Rasputin]

KUWAIT CITY -- Stones were thrown at the Kuwait offices of Dubai-based television companies MBC and Al Arabiya Monday, amid a row over a forthcoming serial accused of sectarianism, a senior employee said.

"Two people dressed in track suits threw a number of rocks at the offices housing the two channels," without causing any casualties or damage, Al Arabiya's chief reporter in Kuwait, Saad Al Ajmi, said.

"They escaped in a waiting car. We have informed the police."

The attack is apparently linked to a controversial serial that MBC plans to screen during the forthcoming Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which Shiite clerics and politicians in Kuwait have accused of insulting their branch of the faith.

The television's offices are located in Baneed Gar, a predominantly-Shiite residential district, a few kilometers from Kuwait City.

Made by a Kuwaiti producer and entitled "Sins Have A Price," the serial highlights a form of marriage particular to Shiite Islam, under which a man and a woman may wed for any period of time from just an hour to 99 years.

Activists in this Gulf emirate, which is Sunni-ruled, but has a significant Shiite minority, have called for the program to be banned as an insult to Shiites.

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

Kuwait's premier Monday vowed to try to stop the broadcast of a TV serial deemed derogatory to Muslim Shiites, as stones were thrown at two stations set to air the programme during Islam's holiest month.

The assurance came during a meeting between Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah and some members of parliament who warned that the serial, scheduled to be broadcast in the forthcoming Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, incites sectarianism.

"The prime minister assured us that the issue will be resolved. Our understanding is that the government will use its good offices to stop the serial," leading Shiite MP Adnan Abdulsamad, who attended the meeting, told AFP.

The serial entitled "Sins Have A Price" is due to air on the Dubai-based Arab MBC station during Ramadan, which is expected to start on Thursday.

Earlier Monday, two unidentified men threw stones at the Kuwait offices of the Saudi-owned MBC and the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya stations, but no casualties were reported.

"Two people dressed in track suits threw a number of rocks at the offices housing the two channels" without causing any casualties or damage, Al-Arabiya's chief reporter in Kuwait, Saad al-Ajmi, told AFP.

"They escaped in a waiting car. We have informed the police."

The attack is apparently linked to the serial which Shiite clerics and politicians in Kuwait have accused of insulting their branch of the faith.

The serial highlights a form of marriage, known as "temporary marriage", particular to Shiite Islam under which a man and a woman may wed for any period of time from just an hour to 99 years. This form of marriage is banned under the Sunni branch of Islam.

Sunni and Shiite activists and lawmakers in this Gulf emirate, which is Sunni-ruled but has a significant Shiite minority, have called for the programme to be banned as an insult to Shiites.

"The serial includes a total distortion of Shiism. It deals with faith issues in a distorted manner. It also incites sectarianism," between the two major branches of Islam, Abdulsamad said.

The Kuwaiti producer of the serial, Nayef al-Rashed, told Al-Arabiya television overnight that the serial was not against Shiites.

"We wanted to highlight negative aspects of social practices. We never intended to distort any faith," Rashed said.

Deputy secretary general of the Shiite Justice and Peace Alliance Abdulwahed Khalfan said the serial also depicts "temporary marriage" as a form of prostitution.

"It deliberately shows as if our girls are practicing prostitution.... It contains derogatory scenes against Shiite sacred places and leaders," Khalfan told AFP.