Kuwait’s top court upholds jail term of activist
Kuwait’s Supreme Court has upheld a two-year prison term handed down to opposition activist, Ayyad al-Harbi, for posting Twitter messages considered offensive to the ruler of the Persian Gulf country.
The Sunday ruling came as online activists strongly censured the sentence given to Harbi, a journalist in his 20s at the country’s Sabr news website who has remained in captivity since May 2014 following an appeals court ruling that upheld the original jail term.
The journalist’s online supporters further argued that he had only re-posted on Twitter a verse written by Iraqi poet Ahmad Matar in which he slammed corrupt Arab dictators.
The latest court ruling against Habri, however, is final and can no longer be appealed. He is among a number of other online activists in the Arab country that are currently serving jail terms.
Criticizing the country’s emir is illegal in the US-backed Arab country and is considered a state security offense.
Individuals convicted of ‘breaching’ the law can receive prison sentences of up to five years.
The development came nearly two months after former Kuwaiti lawmaker, Mussallam al-Barrak, was also sentenced to two years in prison in February for insulting the Kuwaiti ruler at an opposition meeting in 2012.
The country’s Supreme Court is due to hear the ex-lawmaker’s appeal later this month.
MFB/HJL/SS
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