KUWAIT CITY: A lower court in Kuwait sentenced a tweeter to 10 years in jail yesterday on charges of insulting the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), his wife Aisha and companions, his lawyer Khaled Al-Shatti said.
“We plan to challenge the ruling against my client Hamad Al-Naqi in the appeals court and we are very optimistic that the higher court will cancel the sentence,” Shatti told AFP.
The charges were based on a number of tweets on his Twitter account, but Naqi told the interrogators that his account had been hacked, the lawyer said.
Naqi was arrested about three months ago and has been behind bars ever since.
In recent months, Kuwaiti courts have issued jail terms against tweeters and activists amid a sharp rise in sectarian tensions between the emirate’s Sunni majority and Shiite minority.
Parliament, which is controlled by Islamists and conservatives, last month passed a law stipulating the death penalty for serious religious offenses, but the bill has not yet been enacted.
FROM: AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE
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