Kuwaiti opposition leader and former MP Musallam Al Barrak with supporters as he leaves the court in Kuwait City, yesterday.
KUWAIT: A prominent Kuwaiti opposition politician convicted of insulting the ruling emir was granted bail yesterday, his lawyer said, prompting celebrations by supporters packing the court building and defusing tensions in the oil-exporting Gulf state.
Kuwait, a US ally, has avoided a mass Arab Spring-style uprising but unrest flared last year after the emir changed the electoral law before a parliamentary election, a move opposition figures said was meant to deny them a parliamentary majority. The opposition boycotted the December 1 election.
Musallam Al Barrak, an outspoken former member of parliament, was accorded bail from his sentencing to five years in jail last week for remarks made at a rally last year.
The jail sentence triggered a series of street protests that underscored increasing friction between opposition figures and the government, headed by a prime minister picked by the emir.reuters
