Kuwaiti sentenced to three years in prison with hard labor for insulting Saudi Arabia
Defendant charged with committing hostile act against brotherly country via social media
Dubai: Kuwait’s Court of Appeal has sentenced a Kuwaiti citizen to three years in prison with hard labour after being convicted of insulting Saudi Arabia, local media reported.
The verdict was issued on Monday and reported by the Kuwaiti newspaper Al Rai, without further details on the name of the accused and the case.
The Public Prosecution had charged the defendant with committing a hostile act against a brotherly country through social media, which could potentially expose Kuwait to the risk of severing relations with other countries, in addition to the charge of misusing the phone.
This is not the first time that Kuwait has issued such a sentence, as several similar verdicts have been issued against those convicted of the same offence in recent years.
Earlier last year, a Kuwaiti court has sentenced an activist to five years in prison over “insulting” tweets about Saudi Arabia.
Salman Al Khalidi, 23, was sentenced in absentia by Kuwait’s high court, which convicted him of “insulting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and publishing false news”.