Addendum – Human Rights Defenders in Kuwait – Protracted Prosecutions and Opposition Decline 62. The active opposition movements which emerged in Kuwait following the Arab Spring encompassed outspoken Parliamentary action, street protests and a burgeoning online political and critical culture. Alliances were formed between liberal Kuwaiti citizens angry with corruption alongside the particular grievances of the “stateless” Bidoon (meaning “without”) community, thousands of whom came out to protest in areas of Kuwait City. 63. As documented by Amnesty International in 2015, the Kuwait government responded with an “iron fist policy,”10 involving the arrest, prosecution and imprisonment of critics, activists and demonstrators. 64. The situation in 2016 reflects the partial success of that elite strategy. In particular, of course, the two-year imprisonment of leading opposition MP Musallam Al-Barrak (due for release in April 2017) dealt a significant blow. But at lower levels, the ongoing and exceptionally protracted prosecutions of many dozens of other human rights defenders and protestors has served to drain the opposition of both people and energy. With around 90 such cases brought between 2013 and 2015, many remain “in the system” and are yet to conclude. 65. For example, while Al-Barrak is serving his sentence for a speech critical of the Emir delivered in 2012, at least 15 others (of a larger group of 67) charged with “repeating” the speech (and thereby also “insulting the Emir”) by reciting extracts still have cases ongoing in the Court of First Instance over four years later. Prosecutions over this length of time, subject to delays without legal justification, place a collective stranglehold over attempts to continue political activity. 66. Indeed, on 24 November 2016, the same day of Al-Drees’ hearing, those 15 appeared in Court for yet another adjournment. 67. Of the 67, 13 were convicted in October 2014, a further 21 were convicted in June 2015 and many are still waiting for the results of Appeal Court hearings. The results of those appeals have been mixed: Ahmed Al-Damkhi, a Popular Action Movement supporter, had a five-year sentence reduced to two years on 28 July 2015. 68. A leading human rights defender also charged with “repeating” Barrak’s speech of 2012, though in her case through a YouTube video, is Rana Al-Sadoun, whose National Committee for Monitoring of Violations (NCMV) was at the forefront of holding state security to account for protest crackdowns. Al-Sadoun was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment with hard labour in absentia on 21 June 2015. Upon her return to Kuwait on 16 April 2016, she was held in custody for one day before being granted bail, on condition of a travel ban. According to Kuwaiti procedure, in order to challenge her in absentia conviction, she was required to apply to the First Instance judge. The sentence was overturned on 4 December 2016, and Al-Sadoun was obliged to sign a “pledge of good conduct” and pay a bail of 1,000 Kuwaiti Dinars (approx. USD$3280). 10 The Iron Fist Policy: Criminalisation of peaceful dissent in Kuwait, Amnesty International, 2015. 13