KUWAIT CITY, March 16: The Court of Appeals upheld the verdict issued by a lower court, which sentenced Sheikh Khalifa Al-Ali in absentia to 12-month imprisonment with hard labor, and imposed fine of KD 5,000 each on Abdulrahim Al-Roumi and Majed Al-Asfour as well as TV presenter Ali Hussein. The court referred the case to a special court. The suspects were accused of offending the National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim and tarnishing his reputation during a TV show titled “Al-Mashhad Al-Seyasi”.Couple acquitted: The Court of Appeals overturned the verdict issued by the Court of First Instance which convicted a Kuwaiti citizen and an expatriate woman who were accused of committing and inciting adultery, even though the two claimed that they were married for a year under the conditions of “mutaa” (temporary marriage), which is permissible under the Jafaari jurisprudence. The court instead acquitted them. Representing the two defendants was Lawyer Jawad Hussein, who stressed that the Public Prosecution accused his clients of committing and inciting adultery despite the fact that they were married under the temporary terms permissible in the jurisprudence of Jafaari School of Islamic Law. He argued that the Court of First Instance had jailed them without presenting any evidence even though his clients insisted that they are married on temporary basis. Lawyer Hussein told the court that the type of marriage between his clients is recognized by the Jafaari jurisdiction, adding that defendants involved in previous cases of similar kind have been acquitted.Verdict nullified: The Misdemeanor Court of Appeals nullified the verdict issued by the Court of First Instance, which sentenced a Kuwaiti woman to one-year imprisonment with hard labor over allegations of using fraudulent manner to implicate her Egyptian husband in forging an official document to register a telephone line. The court instead acquitted the woman of all charges.According to the defense counsel Lawyer Faisal Al-Otaibi, his client went to pay telephone bill when she was shocked to be confronted with a pending bill worth KD800. She was certain that she didn’t use any line that could cost that much. She later discovered that the picture on the civil ID card and citizenship document belonged to her sister in-law. Lawyer Al-Otaibi accused the estranged husband of perpetrating the forgery since he was the one who processed the three phone lines. He urged the court to clear his client of wrongdoing, because the forgery case against her could not be establishedBy Jaber Al-Hamoud Al-Seyassah Staff