A Kuwait court on Monday sentenced opposition leader, Mussallam al-Barrak, to five years in prison after he was convicted of insulting the emir, an AFP correspondent said.
"The court has sentenced the defendant Mussallam al-Barrak to five years in prison with immediate effect," said judge Wael al-Atiqi.
The former MP was arrested in October 2012, accused of breaking with the local traditions of free speech in remarks he made at a rally in Kuwait City, where he warned against the government’s proposal to amend the country’s electoral law and argued that Kuwait risked becoming an autocratic state.
In his comments following the announcement of the jail sentence, al-Barrak's lawyer, Abdul Rahman Al Barrak, reportedly said that the verdict was in violation of Article 34 of the constitution and that they would appeal it.
