Kuwait opposition activist lands 15-year sentence for insulting courts on Twitter

The sentence handed to Sager al-Hashash, who was found guilty of insulting the integrity of judges, is his third since 2014. 

The sentence is not final and Hashash can still challenge it before the appeals and supreme courts.

In 2015, Hashash was sentenced to 10 years in jail for publishing a diagram on Twitter showing how to make a petrol bomb, at a time when Kuwait was rocked by violent street protests.

At the time, the court also convicted Hashash of inciting attacks on policemen and providing training on the manufacture of Molotov cocktail. Hashash, who is in his 20s, has not yet started to serve the 2015 sentence - which he has challenged and is awaiting a final ruling from the Supreme Court.

In 2014, he also ran into trouble with the judiciary and was handed a 20-month jail term for allegedly insulting the oil-rich emirate's ruler Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah on Twitter.

Kuwaiti courts have handed down prison sentences in recent years to several opposition activists and former lawmakers for remarks deemed insulting to the emir as well as other charges.