Kuwaiti blogger jailed for insulting UAE online

Kuwaiti authorities have sentenced a blogger to five years in prison for criticising the UAE online.

Kuwaiti blogger, Dr Abdullah Al-Saleh has been handed a five year prison sentence with labour by Kuwaiti courts for online comments regarding the UAE, The Kuwait Times has reported.

According to reports, however, Al-Salah remains at large and has filed an asylum request in the United Kingdom. In the past the Kuwaiti blogger has also faced criminal charges for slandering the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

This constitutes the latest case in Kuwait whereby sentences have been issued to those slandering GCC states.

In 2016, Kuwaiti national and former MP Mubarak Al Duwail was sentenced to two years in prison for online criticisms aimed at the Emirati authorities.

The court judgement of Dr Abdullah al-Salah is in clear violation to basic rights around freedom of speech and assembly. The suppression of online dissenters is a practice that has also become increasingly commonplace in the UAE. In recent years, scores of bloggers and online activists have been forcefully disappeared, arbitrarily detained, and in many cases tortured, for comments made on social media platforms that the Emirati authorities have deemed critical of the state.

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