A Kuwaiti court has upheld a government decision to revoke the licence of Arabic daily Al Watan, while a blogger convicted of criticising Saudi Arabia has had his jail sentence increased by two years, according to Kuwait Times.
The court ruled the independent Al Watan newspaper had violated commerce laws and the revocation was not related to free speech.
Al Watan was twice suspended last year for publishing stories about a video that reportedly discusses an alleged plot to overthrow the Gulf state's rulers.
An outright media ban had been issued on broadcasting or reporting about the video or an investigation into it, but was ignored by Al Watan, owned by Sheikh Ali Al Khalifa Al Sabah, a senior member of the ruling family, and Alam Al Youm, which is a privately owned pro-opposition daily.
On January 18, the commerce ministry revoked Al Watan’s operating licence, claiming it had breached the minimum 75 percent capital requirements for commercial businesses.
The information ministry subsequently cancelled its publishing licence.
The daily continued to print while awaiting an appeal but was forced to use a different printing house when authorities blocked staff from entering the newspaper’s offices.
The new printing house was then shut down last week.
Disagreeing with the court decision, Al Watan’s lawyer Rashed Al Radaan said the commerce ministry did not have the power to revoke the license of a shareholding company.
He said in a statement on the daily’s website he would review the court’s ruling before considering a further appeal.
Al Radaan said the daily would continue publishing on the basis of the emergency ruling in January that allowed it to continue operating until a final verdict.
Meanwhile, the court of appeals also on Wednesday increased the jail term of activist blogger Saleh Al Saeed from four to six years.
Al Saeed was convicted of insulting Saudi Arabia and endangering Kuwaiti-Saudi ties in 16 comments published on Twitter in October.
He had said Saudi Arabia had occupied parts of Kuwait and Bahrain and criticised the kingdom’s position on Syria, while also belittling the Saudi foreign minister.
He still has rights of appeal, Kuwait Times said.
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