"If you're a Shiite in Kuwait, you have to swear five times a day after each prayer that you hate Iran and love Israel" in order to prove loyalty to the majority Sunni Muslim country, Shiite writer Abdulhameed Dashti lamented in the newspaper An-Nahar.

Some commentators have blamed the regional standoff between the United States and Iran for the crisis which began after a rally by Shiite activists to mourn Hezbollah commander Imad Mughnieh, who was killed in a Damascus car bombing last month, triggered the arrest of eight prominent activists.

They included two former MPs, a cleric and senior members of the National Islamic Alliance (NIA), a Shiite political grouping which holds two seats in parliament.

Mughnieh is accused in Kuwait of hijacking a passenger plane in 1988 that led to the killing of two Kuwaiti civilians.

Instead of being questioned about the rally, the activists were accused of being members of Hezbollah Kuwait, a previously unknown group, and of working to overthrow the regime, their lawyer said.

The men were also accused of spreading false news about Kuwait to undermine its position abroad, Abdulkarim bin Haider told AFP.

The charges "were based on information from the 1980s" when Sunni-Shiite tensions peaked at the height of the Iran-Iraq war, he added.

The eight men were released on bail after paying hefty sureties, including former MP Abdulmohsen Jamal, who was the last to be freed on Thursday but banned from leaving the country.

The public prosecution also asked parliament to strip two Shiite MPs, Adnan Abdulsamad and Ahmad Lari, of their parliamentary immunity so they could be questioned in the same case.

Parliament is expected to debate the request next week.

The crackdown has angered the Shiite community, which makes up about a third of Kuwait's native population of one million, sparking demonstrations during which anti-US and anti-Israel slogans were chanted.

Shiites have only four MPs in the 50-member parliament and two ministers in the 16-member cabinet.

"I love Kuwait. It is my country, but actions like these make me feel I am not welcome," Abbas, a young Kuwaiti Shiite, told AFP.

Shiites were also angered by calls in some Kuwaiti papers for those who took part in the Mughnieh rally to have their citizenship withdrawn and be deported to Iran.

"The issue has snowballed from an action against the Mughnieh rally into a major crackdown on a political grouping known for its bold national positions," said the chairman of the Kuwait Society for the Advancement of Democracy, Nasser al-Abdali.

"It has raised sectarian tensions. I really don't see any threat by the group that warrants making such serious accusations against its members," he told AFP.

The scope of the accusations reminded Shiites of a crackdown launched two decades ago when Kuwait backed Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated Iraqi regime in its 1980-1988 war with Shiite Iran.

Some liberal Kuwaiti writers have claimed that the crackdown was instigated by the United States and some neighbouring countries to rein in potential pro-Iran elements.

"I'm afraid that Kuwait has become a target -- like Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and Pakistan -- for the so-called 'creative chaos' plot launched by the neo-conservatives in Washington," Ahmad al-Dayeen wrote in Aalam Al-Yaum daily.

However, columnist Nabeel al-Fadhl charged that Iran was behind the current escalation, with the aim of deterring Kuwait from providing the launchpad for any future US military action against it.

"What is happening in Kuwait is a clear threat (to show) what Iran can do through its parties and followers if Kuwait became a springboard for the (US) military strike against Iran," Fadhl wrote in Al-Watan. -AFP