Kuwaiti Teacher Sentenced 11 Years for Tweets against Emir

Local Editor

A teacher has been sentenced to 11 years in jail for insulting the Emir, claiming she was inciting regime change and insulting a religious sect via Twitter.
Huda al-Ajmi, 37, is the first woman known to have been convicted for criticizing the US-allied Gulf Arab state's ruler, described as "immune and inviolable" in the constitution.
Kuwait has penalized several Twitter users for speaks against the Emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah.
In April A court in Kuwait sentenced opposition leader and former MP Mussallam al-Barrak to five years in prison for insulting the ruler of the oil-rich Persian Gulf littoral state.

Criticizing the Emir is illegal in Kuwait and is considered a state security charge. Those convicted of the offence face up to five years in jail.
On February 3, an opposition youth activist was sentenced to five years in prison for insulting the Emir on Twitter. He was the third opposition youth activist to be convicted for insulting the Emir.

Since the December 1, 2012 parliamentary elections, the opposition has been staging almost daily protests to demand that the new parliament be dissolved and the changes made to the electoral law be reversed.

Source: News Agencies, edited by website team