Kuwaiti activist launches prison hunger strike

A Kuwaiti activist sentenced to seven years in prison after he stormed parliament has begun a hunger strike in jail to demand a mistrial, according to his family.

Sulaiman Binjassem was one of 67 people handed prison sentences in November over a 2011 protest calling for an investigation into corruption and bribery.

A statement from Binjassem's family said he had launched an indefinite hunger strike on Thursday because the 2017 ruling failed to meet the standards of a fair trial, including allowing witnesses to testify.

Mohammed al-Hamidi, who heads the Kuwait Human Rights Society, told AFP the Kuwaiti appeals court had not yet allowed defence attorneys to appeal the sentencing. Hamidi represents six of the 67 convicted.

All of those sentenced to jail are members of, or sympathise with, Kuwait's opposition, which includes both nationalists and Islamists.

While the Kuwaiti opposition has called for political reform, including a crackdown on corruption, it has stopped short of targeting the Al-Sabah monarchy which has ruled Kuwait for two and a half centuries.

Kuwaiti parliament has been dissolved seven times since 2006 due to frequent feuds between the government and opposition.