Blogger’s 5-year jail term upheld by court

KUWAIT CITY, July 15: The Court of Cassation upheld decision of the Court of Appeals to sentence a citizen to 10 years in prison with hard labor for joining the outlawed DAESH terrorist group and possession of firearms. The Court of Appeals previously commuted the 15-year prison term with hard labor slammed on the suspect by the Court of First Instance to 10 years. He was accused of joining DAESH without authorization from the government to attack two foreign countries, which would have exposed Kuwait to a diplomatic row with these countries. He is an ex-convict who served a seven-year jail term in the past.

Blogger jail upheld: The Court of Appeals upheld the verdict of the Court of First Instance, which sentenced blogger Musaed Al-Musailem to five years in prison with hard labor and fined him KD 10,000 for posting statements deemed offensive to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), insulting the Amiri institution and spreading false information. According to the case file, the Public Prosecution charged the defendant with using Twitter to attack the UAE as he posted statements which could lead to severing ties between Kuwait and the sisterly country. He also used his personal Twitter account to insult the Amiri institution, spread false information through the same account and misused the mobile phone.

By Jaber Al-Hamoud Al-Seyassah Staff and Agencies