Kuwait blogger given 5-year prison sentence for insulting UAE

Kuwait’s criminal court on Sunday sentenced a blogger to five years in prison with labour on charges of slandering the UAE.

Dr Abdullah Al-Saleh was sentenced in absentia yesterday and is still at large after filing an asylum request in the UK, according to Kuwait Times.

He was also given sentences in other cases totalling 31 years in prison.

Al-Saleh had previously faced criminal charges for insulting Saudi Arabia.

The blogger is the latest to face charges in his home country for insulting another member of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

In 2016, former MP Mubarak Al Duwailah was sentence to two years in prison for derogatory comments against the UAE made in December 2014 television interview.

Read: Former Kuwaiti MP sentenced for UAE insult

Political activist Tariq al-Mutairi was also arrested in 2015 on suspicion of insulting Saudi Arabia on Twitter.

Read: Kuwait Detains Political Activist Over Tweets Against Saudi Arabia

In addition, several Kuwaiti citizens have also been imprisoned in recent years for insulting the country’s ruler including outspoken former parliament deputy Musallam al-Barrak, who was released in April after serving a two-year sentence.

Read: Freed Kuwaiti opposition politician calls for reforms