/middleeast

Le Figaro/AFP rapporte la tenue d’une marche protestataire hier soir

Des milliers de Koweïtiens ont manifesté hier soir pour protester contre le verdict rendu par la justice contre un chef de l’opposition, Mussallam al-Barrak, condamné à 5 ans de prison ferme pour diffamation à l’encontre de l’émir. Quelque 10.000 personnes se sont rassemblées devant la résidence de M. Barrak au sud-est de la capitale et ont marché en direction de la prison où l’opposant devrait être incarcéré, perturbant la circulation sur une autoroute sans aucune intervention de la police.

Kuwait police fail in fourth bid to arrest Barrak

Police have tried to arrest Barrak on three other occasions in the past two days but he has insisted on seeing the original arrest order, saying that once it is produced he will give himself up.

“A group of the elite Special Forces armed with automatic assault rifles raided the house looking for Barrak,” said Ajmi, who condemned the police behaviour and said the government had committed a “moral blunder”.

Unidentified activists meanwhile hacked the information ministry website during the night and posted the speech of Barrak for which he was punished.

▻http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=58195

les supporters de l’ex-parlementaire condamné font face à la police lors d’un rassemblement où l’intéressé a pris la parole niant avoir insulté l’émir :

Kuwaiti police fired teargas late on Wednesday to disperse thousands of people protesting against the conviction of a prominent opposition politician for insulting the country’s ruler, witnesses said.

▻http://www.arabianbusiness.com/kuwaiti-police-use-teargas-at-opposition-protest-498531.html

Epilogue :
Kuwait appeals court bails opposition leader - Your Middle East
▻http://www.yourmiddleeast.com/news/kuwait-appeals-court-bails-opposition-leader_14548

Kuwait appeals court bails opposition leader
AFP, 22 April

Kuwait’s appeals court on Monday granted opposition leader Musallam al-Barrak bail as it began examining his five-year jail term for insulting the emir, a lawyer said.

Former MP Barrak appeared in court although he had refused to turn himself in to police over the past week, insisting that he first be shown the original arrest warrant.

“Judge Anwar al-Anzi has decided to freeze the application of the five-year jail term, and released him with a bail of 5,000 dinars ($17,532),” Dokhi al-Hasban told AFP.

The judge adjourned until May 13 the hearing which was held amid tight security measures with hundreds of the elite special forces deployed around the courts complex in the capital.