#Kuwait: Court of Cassation releases human rights defender Sulaiman bin Jassim among dozens of prisoners https://t.co/keg8yhij0O @GulfCentre4HR pic.twitter.com/GfYgQwNkQr
— IFEX (@IFEX) February 20, 2018
Peaceful Assembly
As previously covered on the CIVICUS Monitor, the prosecution of protesters involved in the storming of the National Assembly in 2011 have come to epitomise the authorities' response to protests. Those convicted include human rights defender Sulaiman Bin Jassim, co-founder of the National Committee for Monitoring Violations.
According to the Gulf Centre for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch, on 18th February 2018 the Kuwaiti Court of Cassation ordered the release of Sulaiman bin Jassim and dozens of others who had been imprisoned for their involvement in the 2011 incident. The Court held hearings on 4th and 11th March 2018, and the charges against the protesters have reportedly been "suspended". Bin Jassim had started a hunger strike five days before his release in protest of his detention.
Blogger, Abdullah al-Saleh was sentenced to five years for criticising the UAE and its increasingly abrasive role in the region https://t.co/EbX6jetaDT
— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) February 6, 2018
Expression
As covered in Kuwait's last update on the CIVICUS Monitor, on 5th February 2018 blogger Abdullah Al-Saleh was sentenced to a further five years in absentia by the Kuwaiti authorities for criticising the United Arab Emirates and its role in the region, according to al Araby. Al-Saleh is currently in the United Kingdom, where he is seeking asylum. Given the previous sentences, Al-Saleh now faces up to 31 years imprisonment if he returns to Kuwait.