Kuwait: Former MP sentenced to 46 years over insulting tweets

Kuwait’s criminal court yesterday sentenced former lawmaker Abdul Hamid Dashti to three years in jail for tweets deemed to insult Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz, Kuwait’s news agency Al-Qabas reported yesterday.

Dashti, who has fled the Gulf Emirdom, has now been sentenced to a total of 46 years in jail.

King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz [Bandar Algaloud/Handout/Anadolu]

Dashti, whose parliamentary immunity was lifted in March 2016, has been known as a strong supporter of Iran and Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. He also condemned his country’s participation in the Saudi-led Arab coalition against the Houthis in Yemen.

In July 2016, the Kuwaiti MP was sentenced to 11 years and six months in prison with labour for insulting the ruling families of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, insulting the Kuwaiti judiciary and criticising Islam. In the same case, he was also convicted for “threatening Kuwait’s diplomatic relations with the two kingdoms [Saudi Arabia and Kuwait].”

Last September, the Kuwaiti lawmaker was sentenced to 14 years over “abusive attacks” in connection with the state security cases.

In a similar context, the Kuwaiti news agency Al-Rai recently reported that the Kuwaiti Criminal Court has accused three Syrian imams, who had been registered by the Kuwaiti Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, of supporting Al-Qaeda in Syria. The court sentenced the defendants to three years in prison and fined them $14,000.