Kuwait: Ex-MP gets 2 years in jail for interfering with Emir's authority
Verdict reduces a 4-year jail sentence handed down to him by a criminal court in June
Cairo: A Kuwaiti appeals court has sentenced ex-lawmaker Walid Al Tabtabai to two years in prison with labour on charges of encroaching on the powers of the country's Emir on social media.
The verdict reduced a four-year jail sentence handed down to Al Tabtabai by a criminal court in June in the state security case.
The 60-year-old Islamist politician had denied to the court he had published the post on the X social media platform, claiming it was fabricated by his adversaries.
The contested X post surfaced after Emir Meshal Al Ahmad ordered the dissolution of parliament in May and suspended certain constitutional articles for a maximum of four years.
The dissolution decree came days before the scheduled inauguration of the assembly that was elected in April and after the formation of a new government hit snags after some lawmakers refused to join it. Emir Meshal described the step as a "hard decision to save the country and guarantee its supreme interests".
In the purported post, Al Tabtabai criticised the move and vowed to resist what he termed as encroachments on public liberties.
Al Tabtabai was elected to the Kuwaiti parliament, the National Assembly, several times, the first being in 1996.
In 2017, he was sentenced to five years in prison for storming along with others in the parliament building.
Later, Kuwait's top court reduced the sentencing to 3 and a half years.
Earlier this week, a Kuwaiti court sentenced a tweeter, nicknamed Nero, to two years with labour on charges of challenging the Emir's rights and powers on social media.