06 Jun 12 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
A Kuwaiti man was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Monday after being convicted of endangering state security as a result of messages he sent on Twitter. The judge found Hamad al-Naqi guilty of insulting the prophet Muhammad and Islam, and insulting the rulers of neighbouring Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Al-Naqi pleaded innocent at the start of the trial last month, saying his Twitter account had been hacked and he had not posted the messages.
18 May 12 | Index Index, minipost
A Kuwaiti blogger has been sentence to ten years in prison and fined 1000 Kuwaiti dinars for “insulting the Prince and his powers” in poems uploaded on YouTube. Lawrence al-Rashidi was initially accused of “spreading false news and rumors about the situation in the country” and “calling on tribes to confront the ruling regime, and bring down its transgressions” in June 2011. The blogger is also being tried as a result of posts on Twitter, deemed to be “an insult to the princely identity” by authorities.
11 Apr 12 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
Kuwaiti writer Mohamed al-Melify was jailed for seven years on Monday on charges of spreading false statements via Twitter. He was arrested last February, and the Kuwait Criminal Court found him guilty of spreading false news about sectarian divisions in the country and publishing insults about Shiism, in addition to charges of libel and defaming a member of the Kuwaiti National Assembly, Ahmed Lari.
12 Mar 12 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
An art exhibition in Kuwait has been shut down three hours after opening. A group of men entered the exhibition of a collection of paintings from Kuwaiti artist Shurooq Amin, and removed the paintings, claiming they had received a complaint over their content. Amin told Al-Qabas newspaper that those who closed down the show misinterpreted the meaning of the paintings to be disrespectful of the society’s tradition.
