Kuwaiti man imprisoned for insulting judiciary

The Kuwaiti criminal court issued a preliminary ruing yesterday sentencing Kuwaiti citizen Ahmad Abdulaziz Fadel, founder of the website Only the Constitution to four years in prison for insulting members of the judiciary on Twitter, official sources said.

According to the sources, the court ordered Fadel to pay Judge Ahmed Al-Ajeel a sum of 5,000 Kuwaiti Dinars ($14,000) as a temporary form of compensation for the damage that was done to his reputation following Fadel’s online abuse.

The case dates back to April 23, when Fadel published a series of tweets accusing several judges including Al-Ajeel of issuing favourable rulings in exchange for bribes.

Based on these tweets, the Kuwaiti public prosecutor responded last June and charged Fadel with “spreading accusations and verbally abusing advisors and judges and accusing them of financial bribes, including Judge Al-Ajeel, without evidence or proof”.

The ruling is subject to appeal.