Kuwait urged to release blogger who criticized PM

Amnesty International:

Amnesty International has urged the Kuwaiti authorities to release a blogger who was sentenced to one year in prison this week, on charges relating to an article he wrote on his blog criticizing the country's Prime Minister.

A criminal court in the capital, Kuwait City, sentenced the journalist and lawyer Muhammad 'Abd al-Qader al-Jasem on Monday after he was convicted of criminal defamation in a case filed against him by the Prime Minister, Shaikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah.

The sentence began immediately and Muhammad 'Abd al-Qader al-Jasem is held at Kuwait Central Prison.

The case is believed to be one of six that the government has reportedly filed against the journalist and one of four brought by the Prime Minister in the last year.

"Amnesty International believes that Muhammad 'Abd al-Qader al-Jasem has been convicted and sentenced solely for non-violently exercising his right to freedom of expression and is therefore a prisoner of conscience," said Philip Luther, Amnesty International's Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

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