Kuwait Court Overturns Two-Year Jail Sentence After Rejecting Urine Test Evidence in Drug Case

KUWAIT CITY, June 25: The Criminal Court overturned its ruling to sentence a defendant to two years in prison with hard labor and fine him KD1,000 in absentia, reports Al-Seyassah daily. The court acquitted the defendant of the possession of psychotropic substances for personal use and public intoxication based on the arguments presented by his lawyer, Attorney Ali Al-Anzi. The Public Prosecution charged the defendant with possessing derivatives of the psychotropic substance benzodiazepine with the intent to use, in addition to the charges of public intoxication and disturbing public order. The case was referred to the court, which previously issued a two-year prison sentence against the defendant in absentia.

During the appeal proceedings, Al-Anzi argued that the procedures related to the search, collection and testing of the defendant’s urine sample are invalid. He contended that the measures were taken by an authority lacking the jurisdiction to undertake such actions, emphasizing that offenses involving narcotic and psychotropic substances fall exclusively within the jurisdiction of the prosecution. He asserted that the collection of the urine sample constituted a search procedure intended to detect the presence of narcotic or psychotropic substances, so it should have been carried out in accordance with the legal procedures governing such procedures. The defense relied on judicial precedents and legal principles, stating that evidence obtained through procedures conducted in violation of jurisdictional rules is inadmissible. Accordingly, the defense requested the exclusion of the laboratory test results and any evidence derived from those procedures, a position that the court accepted.