Kuwaiti Woman Gets Jail Sentence for Anti-Emir Tweets
- 11 years ago
A woman in Kuwait was handed an 11-year jail sentence for publishing unfavorable comments about the country's emir on Twitter. It is the longest known sentence the country has ever given for the crime.
A woman in Kuwait was handed an 11-year jail sentence for publishing unfavorable comments about the emir on Twitter.
The specific charges against the 37-year-old teacher were insulting the man, declaring his regime should be overthrown, and mobile phone misuse.
It is the longest known sentence the country has ever given for the crime.
It’s not a common practice for women to be given jail terms for political offences. Of the two known women previously sentenced to spend time behind bars, neither has had, as of yet, to do it.
The recently convicted teacher hasn’t started her sentence either and has the opportunity to appeal.
The country is, however, quite serious about cracking down on Twitter-powered protesters at large.
The first Twitter related arrest was made in the summer of 2011.
In 2012 a group of 7 was detained for suspicions surrounding the use of a specific hashtag.
It’s been alleged that a British company was hired to bolster the culling of Kuwaiti Twitter accounts. They were reportedly paid 250 million dollars to create custom software for the task.
A woman in Kuwait was handed an 11-year jail sentence for publishing unfavorable comments about the emir on Twitter.
The specific charges against the 37-year-old teacher were insulting the man, declaring his regime should be overthrown, and mobile phone misuse.
It is the longest known sentence the country has ever given for the crime.
It’s not a common practice for women to be given jail terms for political offences. Of the two known women previously sentenced to spend time behind bars, neither has had, as of yet, to do it.
The recently convicted teacher hasn’t started her sentence either and has the opportunity to appeal.
The country is, however, quite serious about cracking down on Twitter-powered protesters at large.
The first Twitter related arrest was made in the summer of 2011.
In 2012 a group of 7 was detained for suspicions surrounding the use of a specific hashtag.
It’s been alleged that a British company was hired to bolster the culling of Kuwaiti Twitter accounts. They were reportedly paid 250 million dollars to create custom software for the task.