KUWAIT CITY, Feb 13: The Criminal Court on Wednesday acquitted five opposition Twitter users- Mohammad Khaled Al-Ajmi, Fares Al-Bahan, Rashed Al-Enezi, Abdulaziz Al-Jarallah Al-Mutairi and Fahad Al-Jafira — who were accused of writing statements on the micro-blogging site deemed offensive to HH the Amir.

However, the Court of Appeals rejected the defense’s request for the release of Rashed Al-Enezi, who is being tried for similar charges separately, and set the next hearing for March 6. Al-Enezi was convicted by the Criminal Court in January and jailed for offensive statements against HH the Amir on Twitter, a conviction he is appealing.

Several opposition activists and three opposition former lawmakers were convicted this year, while tens more are awaiting trial, for the same charges. In solidarity with the convicted and detained, a number of opposition have been holding daily sit-ins in a park in front of the Justice Palace.

Seminar
In other news, the national union of Kuwait University students held a seminar at the College of Social Sciences in the area of Shuwaikh with the participation of a number of opposition ex-MPs. They reiterated the opposition demand for the scrapping of the one-vote electoral system and the current National Assembly, whose election they’ve boycotted on Dec 1. Veteran ex-MP Ahmad Al-Saddoun said that “Kuwait, since 1956, has not seen such political arrests as we see today.”

At the National Assembly, MP Khaled Al-Shulaimi praised the acquittal of the five opposition Twitter activists by the court. He said that “the state security’s priority should be to protect the state’s security from the breaches of Iranian ships into Kuwaiti waters”.

Meanwhile, MP Yaqoub Al-Sane’ criticized the news conference by the Human Rights Watch and those who’ve hosted it at the Kuwait University Graduates Society in which it was deemed that the human rights conditions in Kuwait have deteriorated. He said that “the matters raised by the conference were clearly fabrications and lies about the political and social situation in Kuwait.”

“The accused have been labeled an activist and the abuses of the Amiri status, which is protected by the Constitution and the law, to them has become freedom of expression... there is a big difference between freedom and chaos,” he added.

“Who said that there is a law that differentiates between Kuwaitis and non-Kuwaitis in demonstrations? The foundation of the problem is that there are influential personalities in the country seeking to undermine the reputation of Kuwait by externally marketing their dubious goal to implement a hidden agenda,” he stated.