The daughter of a Sydney woman arrested in Kuwait after arguing with immigration officials says security guards bashed her father and brothers.
Nasrah Alshamery, 43, has spent the last three weeks in jail and has been charged with allegedly insulting Kuwait's ruling emir, even though her daughter said she did not even know his name.
A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokeswoman said consular staff had visited the family members in Kuwait.
"The Australian Ambassador to Kuwait has raised our concerns about these allegations at a senior level with Kuwaiti authorities," the spokeswoman said.
"The Ambassador has confirmed that Kuwaiti authorities are investigating these allegations and requested that he be notified of the outcome of this investigation when complete."
"My mum didn't swear about the emir, she didn't even mention his name, [the security guards] made this problem because their friend started hitting my dad," Wafa Alshamery said.
Two of Mrs Alshamery's sons, Abdulaziz, 22, and Abdulrahman, 18, were also jailed but have since been released on bail.
Wafa Alshamery, a 21-year-old medical science student, said her Kuwaiti-born family of nine, who are all Australian citizens, were in the middle of a two-month tour of the Middle East and had arrived in Kuwait when a row broke out between her father and airport security guards.
Wafa's brothers, Abdulaziz and Abdulrahman, went to the aid of their father when the guards became aggressive.
"They grabbed my brothers and dad and put them in the office and started hitting and punching them for a couple of hours," Wafa, who is now back in Sydney with her father and four other brothers, said.
She waited for almost three hours in the airport with her mother, brother Ahmed, 20, and twin brothers Mohamed and Adel, 12, while a worried Mrs Alshamery kept asking what was going on.
"When my mum tells him we're Australian, he started swearing and said 'you're not Australian, you're Iraqi,' and 'thanks to Saddam Hussein who made you human'," Wafa said.
"So my mum said 'and thanks to George W. Bush and John Howard for giving you freedom."
The security guard then took Ms Alshamery's passport, Wafa said.
"He said 'who will help you now, the emu or the kangaroo [referring to the Australian coat of arms]'...he started stepping on the Australian passport," she said.
"[He said] 'You think you're Australian, you're not Australian, Australian ladies they're all sluts', he said 'we go to Australia to use the ladies for sex'.
"He said, 'I'll show you the rape here in Kuwait', and started to pull me."
At that point, the entire Alshamery family was taken into custody and spent nearly three days at the airport.
"They put my mum and brothers [Abdulaziz and Abdulrahman] in a separate jail and left me and my dad in a room without food, without drink," Wafa said.
"They took our passports and didn't give them back until the last minute."
Soliman Alshamery was released along with Wafa, her brothers Fuad, Ahmed, Mohamed and Adel. They were sent to Syria while Mrs Alshamery was charged with insulting the emir, Sheikh Sabah IV Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.
Abdulaziz and Abdulrahman were also detained in a crowded jail and had shackles place around their ankles.
Wafa said her father flew the released family members to Dubai, where they went to the Australian Embassy, which was closed for Christmas.
Mr Alshamery then flew the family home to Sydney, where they hired a lawyer and contacted DFAT.
"[DFAT] said 'we can't help, we can keep you updated with the news' [but] we already know what the news is," Wafa said.
Who is the emir? Australian mother jailed over 'insult' - World - smh.com.au
