Investigation into restaurant customer's death

KUWAIT: The Kuwaiti Ministry of Interior yesterday dismissed as 'baseless' reports on a decree authorizing the tapping of personal phone calls and monitoring of social media and relevant applications.

Social media reports on the launching of the so-called "new communication system" is totally "divorced from reality and based on inaccurate and unreliable information," the ministry said in a statement quoted by Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).

However, the ministry stressed commitment to doing its security duties by means of taking measures in line with law without having to restrict personal freedoms of citizens and residents. It added that it only enforces the cybercrime law by receiving and investigating complaints and then referring them to involved agencies.

Mystery resolved

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior's Relation and Security Media Department said that they managed to identify people who appeared in a video broadcast that went viral on social media networks that appeared to show two people carrying someone into his house. The person who was being carried is a Kuwaiti man who had died in a local restaurant and was carried home by a citizen and a restaurant staff member, the ministry said, adding that the two persons were arrested. The department added  that investigations are underway to determine the cause of death. The department also denied various reports that were posted as comments on the video.

By Hanan Al-Saadoun and agencies