A Kuwaiti teacher who tweeted that her nation’s ruler should be overthrown has been sentenced to 11 years in jail.
Huda al-Ajmi, 37, was on Monday handed the harshest punishment yet for online dissent in the Gulf state.
She was convicted of insulting the emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, calling for the overthrow of the regime and misusing her cell phone.
Despite her sentence, however, she has not yet been taken into custody and will be allowed to appeal the verdict, reports Al Jazeera.
Her exact tweet has not been revealed, but Kuwait Society for Human Rights’ director Mohammad al-Humaidi confirmed the verdict himself on Twitter.
Ajmi is the latest tweeter in hot water for allegedly insulting the emir, who is described as “immune and inviolable” in the nation’s constitution.
Mussallam al-Barrak, a former member of Parliament, was sentenced last month to five years in prison for warning the emir he would not be allowed “to take Kuwait into the abyss of autocracy.”
He did, however, manage to overturn the decision on appeal.
[NYDailyNews]