Imagine this: you turn on the news to find out that your government has sent its special forces to publicly beat up elected officials who were speaking at a political gathering at a private residence. Officers in uniform drag an elected official outside by his feet and then hit at him with clubs and kick him while cameras are rolling and people are watching.

That's what happened in Kuwait last week, and a clip of the incident is below.

Dr. Obaid Al Wasmi is an elected representative with a seat on the Kuwaiti National Assembly. After he was publicly beaten until he lost consciousness, the police arrested him and he currently sits in jail accused of causing political unrest and insulting the monarch, among other vague accusations.

All local media have been instructed to black out any coverage of the controversy. The only news organization to ignore the ban, Al Jazeera, was soon afterwards closed down and its reporters deported.

Why has the government responded in this way to a lone academic? Dr Al Wasmi was part of a campaign whose goal was to question the prime minister on mismanagement of public funds. Some Kuwaiti analysts say that Dr. Al-Wasmi sought out some sort of confrontation with the government and that he used the podium at the political rally to escalate the situation.

But that is no excuse for the actions of the Kuwaiti government, whose main job is to uphold the constitution and maintain the rule of law, not to go around beating up dissenters, especially when the dissenter is a representative of the people.

In support of Dr. Al Wasmi, his colleagues at Kuwait University renamed one of its halls after him and hung up posters of the beating. Also on Sunday, hundreds of Kuwaitis took to the streets to protest the extension of Dr. Al Wasmi's imprisonment.  Arab Times published a detailed report on the situation.

Kuwait was on track to becoming a beacon of freedom and democracy in the Middle East, with a 50 seat national assembly of elected representatives who even have a say in who their next monarch will be. This is remarkable in the Middle East, especially in a country whose closest neighbor culturally and ethnically is Saudi Arabia. So when Kuwait has a major setback, it not only affects its own citizens but also represents failure and hopelessness in the fight for freedom of speech for the citizens of neighboring countries.

Freedom of speech is a rare commodity in the Middle East. That's why whenever there is a spark of it in the region, we should do everything in our power to keep the flame alive.

The Kuwaiti government should not be able to go back on its constitution without a fight and Dr Al Wasmi's public beating and arrest is unacceptable in a country that prides itself on its freedom of speech and respect for human rights.

Please help us to condemn the Kuwaiti government's actions and support the Kuwaiti people by signing the petition below and sharing Dr Al Wasmi's plight on social media.

WARNING: THIS VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES

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