On Tuesday, authorities in Kuwait arrested a married couple over an "immoral" video they posted on Snapchat. Identified as Sarah Al Kandari and Ahmed Al Enezi, the duo were referred to public prosecution and charged with violating the country's public decency laws.
Police raided the couple's home, according to The New Arab, and arrested them after their video started circulating online. Media outlets have since reported that the defendants published the controversial clip in a bid to provoke their followers into making negative comments so that they could then sue them for money.
In the now-deleted video - which was originally posted on Twitter - Al Enezi could be seen stroking his wife's hair as the couple joked around.
"My husband was holding me from my waist just so that you don't start rumors that his hands were elsewhere," Al Kandari told her followers in the video.
The one-minute footage sparked outrage in the Gulf nation, with many calling on authorities to take action against the duo.
The couple responded to the backlash before their arrest, saying the video was intended to be published via a private Snapchat account but someone took it and sent it out. They also threatened to sue popular social media accounts attacking them with "vile comments."
The couple didn't have a huge following on social media before their video went viral, but it looks like the clip has catapulted them to fame.
Al Kandari seemed to be quite happy with all the attention the footage was getting and even took to Instagram to post about media outlets writing about it two days before she was detained.
According to local media, the couple will remain detained until Sunday.
The couple's background is being speculated
Al Kandari is a Kuwaiti citizen but many speculated her husband's nationality amid the social media storm stirred up by the couple's video. This is because many felt the duo's actions and the content they post online is so remote from Kuwaiti traditions.
According to local reports, Al Enezi is a Bidoon (stateless citizen). Bidoons are a stateless minority who have been based in the Gulf country for decades but are denied citizenship.
According to The New Arab, Bidoons "ancestors lived in remote rural areas and failed to register with the authorities when Kuwait gained its independence from the UK in 1961."
Nevertheless, the couple's nationalities have nothing to do with the case against them. Kuwait applies strict public decency laws on both its nationals and expats based in the country.
