“The police was following the law, and only went upon an order to arrest him and had a previous permission from the General Prosecutor to arrest him,” Al-Hashash told the Kuwait Times. Kuwait’s Cassation Court – the highest court in the country, upheld a two-year jail sentence against the former lawmaker on May 18.
The verdict is final and cannot be appealed. “This ruling is without the slightest doubt political,” Al Barrak reportedly said following the verdict. “I thank God that I am not interested in wealth or power and I will always uphold my dignity both inside the prison and outside,” he said at the time
. The sentencing is for a speech Al-Barrak gave in October 2012 deemed insulting to HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. Heated opposition to the dissolution of the elected February 2012 parliament, a change in the electoral system and new elections that same year in December fueled the political opposition in Kuwait.
The Popular Action Bloc (HASHD) issued a statement following the farm raid that noted that Al-Barrak and the Secretary General of HASHD were not arrested. HASHD condemned the “break in by police forces to Al- Barrak’s farm at 3:30 am today with 15 vehicles, and they pulverized the gate of the farm.” HASHD claimed that the storming of the farm was illegal and conducted without a search warrant, and it scared all the present workers, who denied seeing the wanted ex-lawmaker. Al-Barrak remains at large.
