Ajmi is the third youth tweeter to be jailed over the same charges after the criminal court last month sentenced two tweeters – Ayyad Al-Harbi and Rashed Al-Enezi – for two years in prison each also for insulting the Amir.
The two have since been in jail pending the appeals court verdict. Under article 25 of the penal code, insulting the Amir or criticizing him in public is a state security offense punishable for up to five years in jail.
“We call on the government to expand freedoms and adhere to the international (human rights) conventions it has signed,” said lawyer Mohammad Al-Humaidi, director of the Kuwait Society for Human Rights, commenting on the case.
Dozens of other opposition tweeters are awaiting verdicts or face trial for similar charges as the criminal court is scheduled to issue its first ruling tomorrow against ex-opposition MPs who have been tried on similar charges.
The opposition warned at a public rally late Saturday that the continuation of this security method will not resolve the ongoing political problem in the country and the only solution to the crisis is by dissolving the National Assembly and scrapping the amendment to the electoral law that triggered the dispute.
The opposition vowed that it will continue its protests until its demands are met and charges against its members are abolished.
In a related development, the interior and defense committee of the new Assembly yesterday rejected an Amiri decree issued in the absence of the Assembly to establish the National Election Commission provided that its actions must remain effective.
The commission supervised the Dec 1 election for the first time ever and its nine-judge panel had disqualified around 37 candidates running for seats over their “bad” reputation. Its decision was temporarily suspended by the court and a number of the disqualified candidates have already won seats in the Assembly. This is the first Amiri decree to be rejected by one of the Assembly panels.
The committee also rejected a proposal to amend an article in the nationality law to stipulate that people who have no passport of a third country cannot be granted Kuwaiti citizenship.
The amendment is clearly directed against bedoons (stateless people) who have been fighting to get Kuwaiti citizenship for the last five decades.
The Assembly’s financial and economic affairs committee meanwhile discussed a number of proposed amendments to the privatization law of Kuwait Airways which was passed by the Assembly two weeks ago.
The amendments focused on the rights of Kuwaiti employees who are working in the carrier, especially an amendment stipulating that Kuwaiti employees who do not want to join the new Kuwait Airways Company should be granted new government jobs.
The committee meanwhile delayed giving its final approval to a debt relief scheme because the bill did not include the government opinion or the financial cost of the process, head of the committee MP Yousef Al-Zalzalah said.
MP Faisal Al-Duwaisan said he will propose to form a parliamentary committee to probe who was responsible for “inflating” interest rates on bank loans and whether it was the Central Bank or commercial banks.
Duwaisan also criticized reports indicating that a member of the ruling family, who allegedly led an assault against a local private satellite channel, will be appointed information ministry undersecretary. Duwaisan also renewed threats that he will grill the interior minister, saying it will be done very shortly.
The legal and legislative committee meanwhile approved a draft law for the independence of the judiciary and approved another bill calling to grant Kuwaiti citizenship to the children of Kuwaiti women after they become adults.
