KUWAIT CITY, Jan 15: The Court of Appeals overturned a lower court’s ruling, which sentenced a woman in her forties to five-year imprisonment with hard labor for her alleged role in establishing and managing a brothel. The court instead acquitted her of the charges.

According to the Public Prosecution, the case involved a series of alleged crimes committed in October 2024 within the jurisdiction of the Public Morality Protection and Human Trafficking Department. The case file explained that the defendant was accused of misusing communication technologies and creating websites that violated public morals. The alleged crimes included facilitating prostitution through two Snapchat accounts, sending indecent photographs and videos, and inciting debauchery and immorality. The defendant was initially convicted by the lower court and sentenced to five years of hard labor, fined KD 3,000, and ordered to be deported upon completion of her prison term.

The court also ordered the confiscation of her mobile phones and the permanent deletion of all photos and videos stored on them. During the appeal process, the defendant was represented by Lawyer Inaam Haidar, who submitted a comprehensive defense memorandum. Lawyer Haidar argued that the appealed judgment was flawed and should be overturned, citing violations of the law, errors in its application and interpretation, weak reasoning, insufficient justification, and infringement of the defendant’s right to a defense. She said the public prosecutor’s warrant was invalid because it was based on unreliable investigations, adding that the arrest and search procedures were also deemed invalid, as they exceeded the scope of the warrant. A central point of the defense was the absence of the essential elements required to establish the crime of participating in the establishment and management of a place of debauchery and prostitution, asserting that no valid legal evidence supported this charge.

By Jaber Al-Hamoud Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff