KUWAIT-COURT/FILE Kuwaiti opposition figure arrested, to serve two-year jail sentence

Record ID: 151071

  • Title: KUWAIT-COURT/FILE Kuwaiti opposition figure arrested, to serve two-year jail sentence
  • Date: 13th June 2015
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF NEWSPAPER ARTICLE ABOUT MUSALLAM AL-BARRAK, FRAMED AND HANGING ON WALL IN OFFICE
  • Embargoed: 28th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kuwait
  • Country: Kuwait
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA4MEOPS20GNOPR2LT9EFKNM4GW
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A Kuwaiti opposition figure was arrested following his conviction for insulting the emir of the country, his lawyer said on Saturday (June 13).
    Musallam al-Barrak is a former member of Kuwait's parliament who is due to serve a two-year jail term. He has been at odds with the authorities over changes made in 2012 to the election law which he and other opposition politicians said were intended to prevent them getting power.
    Barrak's lawyer Mohammed Abdel Kader al-Jassim told Reuters that nine of his relatives were detained along with the opposition politician.
    The former member of parliament was placed in solitary confinement in a section of the central prison usually used to hold inmates convicted of serious drugs offences, and he began a hunger strike to protest against the conditions of his imprisonment, the lawyer said.
    His relatives were being held at the criminal investigations department, he said.
    Kuwaiti newspaper al-Rai and alaan.cc news website said Barrak had been arrested at a farm in Kabed, an area southwest of Kuwait City.
    The case goes back to 2012 in the run-up to changes to the electoral law by the emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, which the opposition saw as favouring pro-government candidates.
    Barrak was found guilty found of insulting Sheikh Sabah and was sentenced to five years in jail. An appeals court cut that to two years.
    That sentence was confirmed by the court of cassation last month.
    Kuwait, a Western-allied oil exporter, avoided massive protests during the 2011 "Arab Spring" when some rulers in the region were overthrown, but citizens held large street protests in 2012 over changes to the electoral law.
    The government had said it would strike with an "iron fist" against dissent.
    While Kuwait allows more freedom of speech than some other Gulf Arab states, the emir has the last say in state affairs.
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