Kuwait detains Muslim cleric US suspects of militant financing
KUWAIT - Kuwait has detained a prominent Sunni Muslim cleric less than two weeks after the United States included him on a sanctions list for allegedly funnelling money to militants in Iraq and Syria, his lawyer said on Monday.
Shafi al-Ajmi was detained on the border with Saudi Arabia on Sunday while returning from a pilgrimage. "He is at the state security compound," his lawyer, Mohammed al-Jumia, told Reuters by telephone. "So far, there are no charges."
Some Islamist activists in the Gulf have exploited their governments' support for an uprising against President Bashar Assad to channel millions of dollars to militants. Kuwait has been one of the biggest humanitarian donors to Syrian refugees through the United Nations, but it has also struggled to control unofficial fundraising for opposition groups in Syria by private individuals.
