Manama: A court in Kuwait City on Wednesday sentenced four Kuwaitis to one year in jail for illegal assembly and resisting police instructions.
However, the court said that the sentence would be suspended if Khalid Al Fadhala, Rashid Al Fadhala, Fahd Al Qabandi and Abdullah Al Rassam paid 1,000 dinars (Dh12,944) each.
Charges of undermining the status of the Emir levelled against the four defendants were dropped by the court, local news sites reported.
Kuwaiti courts have recently looked into several cases filed against nationals for posting remarks deemed offensive to the country’s ruler.
The remarks, posted on microblogs and social networks, were seemingly part of a bitter standoff between the opposition and the government over the merit of the amendment of the electoral law in October ahead of the parliamentary elections on December 1.
The Constitutional Court this week said that the decree slashing the number of ballots a voter could cast from four to one was constitutional, but ruled to dissolve the parliament.
The new parliament is expected to be elected within 60 days.
The opposition boycotted the December elections, but it is still considering its options for the next polls, even though initial statements by some opposition figures indicated that they would not cast ballots.
