Kuwait city - Kuwait's highest court on Sunday ordered an opposition leader and several lawmakers imprisoned for 3 years over the 2011 storming of parliament.
The case before Kuwait's Court of Cassation involved dozens of politicians, activists and others. The defendants were initially acquitted in the years long case, but a shock court decision in November resurrected the charges against them.
Among those sentenced Sunday was Musallam Al Barrak, an opposition leader who left prison in April 2017 after serving a two-year sentence on separate charges. Sitting and former lawmakers also were sentenced to prison. The case involved a total of 70 defendants.
The defendants were charged with storming the parliament in November 2011, demanding the resignation of then Prime Minister Shaikh Nasser Al Mohammad.
The incident, unprecedented in Kuwait’s history, was labelled “Black Wednesday” and caused uproar in the country. The suspects insisted they acted “without malicious intention”.
The case remained pending until December 2013 when the Criminal Court acquitted all suspects.
However, the Court of Appeals in November 2017 rejected the ruling, and sentenced 67 defendants to jail terms ranging from one to nine years.
Several defendants challenged the verdicts at the Court of Cassation and their lawyers requested that they be released until the trial is resumed. Today was the final ruling by the country’s highest court whose rulings are final and cannot be challenged
- With inputs from AP
