Blogger sentenced to 5 years in prison for slandering the UAE

A Kuwaiti criminal court has sentenced a blogger to five years in prison for slandering the UAE, according to local media reports.

According to a report in the Kuwait Times, blogger Dr Abdullah Al-Saleh was sentenced to prison with labour because of his comments regarding the UAE. Additionally, he was sentenced to a number of other criminal charges, with a jail term totalling 31 years. The Kuwait Times report noted that the defendant is at large and has filed an asylum request in the United Kingdom. Several Kuwaiti news outlets noted that Al-Saleh had previously also faced criminal charges after insulting Saudi Arabia. With the sentence, Dr Al-Saleh becomes the latest Kuwaiti to face criminal charges for slandering other members of the GCC. In April 2016, another Kuwaiti national, former MP Mubarak Al Duwaila, was sentenced to two years in prison for insulting the UAE and putting Kuwaiti-UAE relations at risk.