KUWAIT JAIL FOR TWEETS

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A Kuwaiti court has sentenced Twitter user Hamed Al Khaldi (@Hamed_AlKhaldi, picture) to two years in prison with hard labor under charges of lèse-majesté, or insulting the Emir.

Al Khaldi was charged with writing remarks on his Twitter account deemed offensive to the Emir, Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah. The verdict is not final, but his jailing was immediate pending the appeals process.

“If I fall I fall with dignity, the blood of the free in my veins,” AlKhaldi tweeted before the verdict, quoting a famous poem by assassinated Egyptian poet Hashim Al Rifai. He participated in a live phone interview on Kuwaiti TV channel ‘Al Youm’ following the verdict.

Al Khaldi is one of dozens of opposition activists and former MPs who have either been sentenced to various jail terms or are on trial on similar charges. The most public case has been Iyad Al Harbi’s, but Twitter users Bader Al Rasheedi, Sager Al Hashash, Nasser Al Deehani and Rashid Al Anzi have met similar fates. Kuwaiti twitter users have devised an Arabic hashtag that roughly translates to Freedom for the Twitter detainees to draw attention to the sentences.

Criticising the emir is illegal in Kuwait and is considered to be an offence against state security.

The Kuwaiti opposition has staged regular demonstrations in protest against an amendment last year of the electoral law and subsequent December elections. It has also demanded the dissolution of parliament and new elections.

http://freearabs.com/index.php/politics/70-arablogs/435-jb-span-intro-jb-span-the-token-orientalist-says-hello-2

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Topic: KUWAIT JAIL FOR TWEETS

Jila

OP - April 04, 2013, 01:32 AM

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