Kuwait: Barrak loses final challenge

Kuwait’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, ruled on 18 May that a two-year sentence against Musallam Al-Barrak, a former MP and one of the best-known faces of the country’s political opposition, should be upheld. The verdict, which confirms an Appeals Court decision handed down in February is final. The case dates back to October 2012, when Barrak, in a speech at a political rally, said the opposition would fight against autocracy and spoke out against government “time-wasting and the squandering of resources”.