Kuwait opposition figure gets 9-year term

A leading opposition figure, three serving lawmakers and dozens of others in Kuwait were sentenced to prison on Monday over protesters storming Parliament in 2011.
A lower court earlier had initially acquitted the 70-odd defendants involved in the 2013 case.
Court documents reviewed by The Associated Press suggested that Musallam Al-Barrack, a main opposition leader who left prison in April after serving another two-year sentence, received the longest sentence.
Al-Barrack got a nine-year prison term in Monday’s court ruling while more than 50 other defendants were given sentences ranging from one to five years. The others had their acquittals upheld. The state-run KUNA news agency reported the court’s decision.
Al-Barrack and his lawyer could not be reached for comment, nor could serving lawmakers Waleed Tabtabaie, Jamaan Herbish and Mohamad Al-Mutair.
Lawyer Mohammed Al-Humaidi, who represents seven defendants other than Al-Barrack, said that police had begun arresting some of the defendants, who also included secular nationalists.
Al-Barrack was released in April after serving two years in prison following a conviction of insulting the country’s ruling emir, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.
Since his release, however, Al-Barrack has been largely absent from the country’s political scene.
Kuwait is a solid US ally. Home to 4 million people, Kuwait also has the world’s fifth-largest oil reserves