Kuwaiti royal jailed for criticising the monarchy

A Kuwaiti court yesterday sentenced a member of the royal family to three years in jail on charges of insulting the Kuwaiti Emir and other royals.

Sheikh Abdullah Salem Al Sabah, who is the grandson of the emir’s late half-brother Sheikh Abdullah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, posted video message on Snapchat early 2015 in which he strongly criticised the manner in which the government functions.

The main cabinet positions in the government are all held by members of the ruling family, and Sheikh Abdullah singled out several of them for criticism.

The court ordered that he pay $16,500 in damages.

In 2012, Sheikh Abdullah was questioned for posting comments on Twitter deemed sympathetic to the opposition and critical of the emir and June 2015, he was detained for 10 days awaiting interrogation for criticising the emir.