Appeals Court upholds jail terms in state security, cyber breach cases
The Court of Appeals, which specializes in state security and terrorism-related cases, has upheld a three-year prison sentence and a fine of 10,000 dinars against a Kuwaiti citizen.
The court, headed by Counselor Abdullah Al-Sane and joined by Counselors Meshaal Al-Mutawa and Saud Al-Mutairi, found the defendant guilty of unlawfully accessing the automated systems of the Ministry of Defense while serving as a conscript in the National Military Service Authority, and obtaining confidential military data.
However, the court upheld his acquittal on more serious charges, including harming national security and obtaining, disclosing, or selling military secrets to foreign websites.
In a separate ruling, the same court sentenced two brothers to five years in prison each after convicting them of joining and financing Hizb ut-Tahrir, as well as insulting the Jordanian monarchy and the Republic of Egypt on social media platforms.
Additionally, the court sentenced Salman Al-Khaldi to five years in prison for insulting and publicly defaming the Amir, as well as leaders of Gulf states and the head of the Central Agency for Illegal Residents. This ruling reduced his previous sentence of 15 years.
In another case, the court fined the administrator of an Instagram-based news account 2,000 dinars and ordered the permanent shutdown of the platform for violating its publishing license issued by the Ministry of Information and misusing telecommunication tools. He was acquitted of the other charges.
