69. Other prominent cases in 2016 include the charging of academic Sheikha Al-Jassem in connection with an interview she gave on 8 March 2016 in which she addressed questions regarding religious extremism and the sources of constitutional law. On 14April, the prosecutor charged her for violations under Article 29 of Law 31 of 1970, Amending the Penal Code, and Article 11 of the 2007 Audio-visual Crimes Law. 70. The potency of the protest movements from 2011 to 2014 reflected a sometimes uneasy alliance between Kuwaiti citizens and the Bedoon. 71. The crackdown on the Bedoon has been harsh, with prosecutions pursued against those attending protests. The effect has been plain: protests have effectively stopped. From regular gatherings running into the hundreds and thousands in 2011-13, the last significant protest was in 2015. Again, the charges have taken years to filter through the Court system. 72. However, there have been successful defences brought in both Courts of First Instance and the higher appellate courts, arguably indicative both of the relative independence of the judiciary and, it is argued by some, the Government’s diminishing interest in securing convictions in circumstances when the prosecutions have achieved the necessary aim of quelling broader opposition. 73. One leading activist commented that the institutional pressure for regular and protracted prosecutions emerges from the relationship between state security, the police and the public prosecutor. Even if the Courts, in some limited instances, acquit defendants, the process itself serves as a punishment for a significant number of individuals cast into long-term uncertainty. 74. A further peculiarity of the Kuwaiti system is that, even if acquitted in the Court of First Instance, the Public Prosecutor can and does pursue an appeal through the appellate system. 75. Nawaf Al-Hendal was acquitted on 1 March 2016, along with 10 other men, of charges including “illegal gathering”, relating to a protest in 2015. 76. There was also a large group acquittal confirmed by the Supreme Court in June 2016. Judge Ahmad Al-Ujail upheld the decision of the Court of Appeals and First Instance Court and acquitted 67 Bedoon activists of unlawful gathering and attacking police in Taima square in 2012. 77. 70 people were acquitted in 2013 of charges relating to the “storming” of Parliament in 2011. 78. Abdul Hamid Dashti, while acquitted at the end of September 2016 on a charge of insulting Saudi Arabia and so undermining Kuwait’s diplomatic relations, remains abroad having been convicted in absentia on a similar charge, including insulting the Emir. 14