Kuwait: 3 jailed for interfering with Emir's authority

Cairo: A Kuwaiti criminal court has sentenced three persons to two years in prison with labour each in two state security cases on charges of encroaching on the powers of the country's Emir, and spreading false news.

In one case, the court convicted two defendants of spreading false news about classified documents. In the second case, the court found the third defendant guilty of interfering with the Emir's powers and defaming him in X posts.

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The court ordered the unidentified defendants' mobile phones used in spreading the X posts be confiscated. The verdicts can be appealed.

Last September, a Kuwaiti appeals court sentenced ex-lawmaker Walid Al Tabtabai to two years in prison on charges in a similar case.

The verdict reduced a four-year jail sentence handed down to Al Tabtabai by a criminal court in June.

The 60-year-old Islamist politician had denied 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.

Earlier this week, a Kuwaiti criminal court sentenced two lawyers for three years in prison each for broadcasting false news about Minister of Works Noura Al Mashaan, and defaming her on social media.