23/11/2016
23/11/2016
KUWAIT CITY, Nov 23: The Court of Appeals released Sheikh Khalifa Al-Ali on KD 5,000 bail and postponed until Jan 19, 2016 deliberations on the infamous Fintas Group case filed against 13 individuals including lawyers, journalists and others from the ruling family. Previously, the Criminal Court sentenced in absentia Hamad Al-Haroun, one of the accused, to 10 years in prison with hard labor. It also imposed jail sentence on three other Kuwaitis who helped Al-Haroun escape. The court had earlier sentenced Abdul-Muhsin Al-Ateeqi, Falah Al-Hajraf, Sheikh Ali Al-Khalifa, Sheikh Ahmad Dawoud Al-Sabah and Sheikh Odhbi Al-Sabah, to five years imprisonment with hard labor, while Saud Al-Asfouri was sentenced to one year in jail with hard labor. The defendants were accused of using words, publicly and through the Internet, deemed offensive to the entity of HH the Amir. This is in addition to spreading false and malicious information about the internal situation of the country and accusing the judiciary of taking bribes — acts that could weaken reverence for the State and cast doubt on one of the three pillars of the country — the judicial authority. The court acquitted Yusuf Al-Essa, Fawaz Al-Abdullah, Ahmad Al-Enezi, Muhammad Al-Jassem, Mishari Bo Yabeas and Jarrah Al-Dhufeiri. By Jaber Al-Hamoud Al-Seyassah Staff and Agencies