Kuwait jails opposition leader for insulting ruler

KUWAIT CITY — Kuwait's appeals court sentenced prominent opposition leader Mussallam Al Barrak to two years in jail on Sunday on charges of insulting the Gulf state's ruler, his group said.

The charges relate to a speech he gave to tens of thousands of demonstrators in October 2012 protesting changes to the electoral law which he said would allow the ruling Al Sabah family to manipulate the outcome of elections.

Barrak was a member of parliament at the time but his nationalist Popular Action Movement (PAM) boycotted December 2012 and July 2013 polls held under the new electoral law.

"The appeals court passed a two-year sentence on Barrak," PAM said on its Twitter account.

It quoted its leader as vowing that the campaign for reform in the oil-rich emirate would go on.

"You can jail my body but not my ideas and will," he said.

The appeals court tried Barrak after quashing a five-year jail term handed down by a lower court in April 2013 on the same charges of insulting emir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah.

That judgement sparked angry protests by opposition activists, several of whom were wounded when police responded with tear gas and stun grenades.

In July last year, there were further demonstrations when Barrak was detained for five days on separate charges of insulting the judiciary.