Kuwait: More MPs back emergency parliament session

Cairo: The number of Kuwaiti lawmakers, who have signed a request for holding an extraordinary parliamentary session, has risen to 29 members of the 50-strong legislature, according to a local newspaper.

Last week, 23 lawmakers approved the request in protest against the arrest of prominent poet Jamal Al Sayer, who was later referred to a criminal trial on charges of defaming Kuwait’s Emir Nawaf Al Ahmed and spreading fake news, in a case that triggered an outcry in Kuwait.

Al Sayer was arrested in connection with a series of tweets critical of the government. He denied charges in investigations.

Efforts are under way to secure approvals from other lawmakers of the request, drafted by MP Muhanad Al Sayer, to meet the quorum necessary for convening the session, which needs support from 33 legislators, Al Jarida newspaper reported.

The signatories want the envisaged session focused on debating what they say is public prosecution’s failure to apply a 2021 law, amending another issued in 1960, suspending pre-trial detention in cases of persons who express their own views verbally or in writing.

Lawmakers backing the poet have accused security