In Kuwait, a blogger was imprisoned for inciting enmity on Twitter between Sunnis and Shiites

Kuwaiti blogger-Sunnit Mubarak al-Bathali was sentenced to three months in prison for publishing offensive messages regarding Shiites in his microblog on Twitter, AFP reports.

As the El-Kuwait court considered, the blogger’s records are incurred by interethnic discord, damage the unity of the peoples of the country and insult the feelings of the Muslims-Shiits .

At the same time, al-Bathali is currently serving a sentence in another case, also related to his messages on the Internet.

On Tuesday September 27, the metropolitan court must pronounce a sentence against another Kuwaiti blogger - Naser Abula. He is accused of insulting on Twitter the heads of the partner countries Kuwait, as well as undermining the national reputation.
However, Abul claims that his account was hacked, and all offensive messages were written by hackers, ITAR-TASS reports.

In Arab countries, many Internet users receive real terms for anti-government notes on their pages. So, last year, in the same Kuwait, the writer and journalist Mohammad al-Jassem spent several months in his microblog.

Recently, in countries such as Iran, Vietnam, Egypt and Myanmar, the criminal prosecution of political activists expressing their opinion on the World Wide Web has been tightened. This is due to the fact that the authorities are afraid of mass riots, which, for example, in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya were organized through social networks.

Help: Sunnis and Shiites in Kuwait

Sunnis and Shiites are two main streams of Islam. Currently, Sunnis account for 80% of all Muslims.

The predominant number of Muslims-Kuwians are Sunnis (70%), and 30% are Shiites.

These two groups were once divided in the views of who should be considered the first caliph, that is, the heir to Muhammad, since Muhammad did not manage to appoint a successor before his death. Sunnis insist that the heir to Muhammad should choose a community. Shiites believe that the heir should be in the blood kinship with Muhammad. The top in this dispute was won by the Sunnis.

In addition, the Sunnis and Shiites diverge in the views of what should be considered scripture. Sunnis emphasize the authority of written traditions, to which not only the Qur'an, but also the Sunna ("custom", from this word came the name of the Sunnis). The Sunnah includes hadiths, stories about the behavior and statements of Muhammad and his associates. Sunna is saying a lot, which the Qur'an is silent about.

Sunnis are also guided by the principles, jointly developed by elders, or theologians (ulems), who founded their decisions on the Qur'an, Sunnah and later sources.

Shiites, for their part, are more based on authority than on unanimous elders. From the very beginning, the Shiites believed that God speaks through Imam. However, in the 9th century, the twelfth imam disappeared, and the source of authority became ulas, who considered themselves a collective representative of the hidden imam. Shiites expect the return of the twelfth imam, who is called Mahdi, just as Christians are waiting for the return of Christ.

Another difference between the two directions is that the Sunnis are convinced of the need to separate secular and religious authorities, while Shiites insist that both religious and political power should belong to religious leaders.

In Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Katar Shiites make up the majority of the population. Influential Shiite communities are also available in the Persian Gulf countries, including Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon.

Disagreements between Sunnis and Shiites often develop into armed conflicts.