The Criminal Court last month issued the sentence against Darees on charges of insulting the Amir’s status and for misusing her mobile phone but she was asked to pay a bail of KD 200 to suspend the implementation of the jail term until the case has been reviewed by the Appeals Court.
Under Kuwaiti law, the sentence must be carried out immediately after the Appeals Court confirmed it although the convict can still challenge the sentence to the Court of Cassation whose rulings are final.
Defense lawyer Humoud Al-Hajeri however said that they will challenge the sentence at the Court of Cassation immediately and will request the court to suspend the implementation of the sentence until it had issued its verdict.
If the request is accepted by the court, then Darees can remain outside the jail until the Cassation Court issues its ruling which may acquit the convict. Darees becomes the second Kuwaiti female tweeter to be jailed after the criminal court last month sentenced Huda Al-Ajmi to 11 years in jail, the harshest jail term against an online crime so far in Kuwait, also for insulting the Amir.
Ajmi was convicted on three counts of insulting the Amir and calling to overthrow the regime through remarks on Twitter and misusing her mobile phone. At least three youth opposition activists are serving various jail terms in prison on charges of writing tweets deemed offensive to the Amir.
In a related development, the election campaign has so far remained lackluster with a few people attending election campaigns due to high temperature, the fasting month of Ramadan and apparently due to a boycott by most opposition groups.
With less than 10 days to go for the election date on July 27, a number of candidates kicked off their election campaigns at tents provided with air-conditioning units to beat extremely hot conditions.
The focus of most candidates has so far been on local issues like housing, education, development and employment, but occasional turned their eyes to regional issues especially if Kuwait is somewhat involved like the $ 4 billion aid package to Egypt.
