Kuwaiti, Saudi persecution for tweeting

This video says about itself:

Amid chants of ‘peace’ and ‘peaceful’ pro-democracy demonstrations in Kuwait, Friday, March 11, 2011. Stateless nomadic Kuwaitis, born and raised in Kuwait, are protesting for the right to citizenship after Friday Jummah (congregation) prayers let out of the mosques, in a ‘day of rage’ protests across the Gulf, in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

From Associated Press:

Kuwait upholds sentence for Twitter ‘insults’

Friday, Nov. 1, 2013 | 12:15 a.m.

A rights activist in Kuwait says an appeals court has upheld a 10-year prison sentence against a social media commentator for posts considered offensive to Islam and the rulers of fellow Gulf states Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Monday’s ruling highlights the escalating crackdowns in the Gulf on perceived online dissent and the deepening cooperation among Gulf nations, fearing political challenges inspired by the Arab Spring.

Saudi Arabia led a Gulf military force in 2011 that helped Bahrain‘s Sunni monarchy battle a Shiite-led uprising seeking a greater political voice.

Activist Nawaf al-Handel says the appeals court refused to lower the June 2012 sentence against Hamad al-Naqi.

Al-Naqi, a Shiite, claims his Twitter account was hacked.

Twitter Prisons for Tweeting in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia: here.

Saudi Arabia May Have Freed ‘Blasphemous’ Journalist But The Press Remains Chained: here.

Related articles

• Kuwait ditatorship’s LGBTQ persecution (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Kuwaiti blogger jail sentence upheld (bbc.co.uk)
• Kuwaiti blogger faces 10 years in jail for ‘insulting’ tweets (theguardian.com)
• Kuwait: 10 Years for Twitter Comments (hrw.org)
• Kuwait Court Upholds 10-year Sentence for Offensive Tweets (theepochtimes.com)
• Jordan king abuse case postponed in Kuwait (gulfnews.com)