Kuwait: The Criminal Court on Wednesday convicted Kuwaiti MP Abdulhamid Dashti in absentia and sentenced him to 14 years in prison for defaming Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
The Public Prosecution had charged him with discrediting Saudi Arabia and filed three lawsuits against him, reported local Arabic daily Al-Qabas.
Dashti is currently out of Kuwait and was facing trial in connection with two other lawsuits filed against him in absentia.
The National Assembly has already lifted the parliamentary immunity of MP Dashti in connection with the libel suit filed by the Saudi embassy in Kuwait.
Both Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have filed state security cases accusing Dashti of undermining brotherly relations among the Gulf Cooperation Council member states.
Under the Kuwaiti law, any individual convicted of hostile act against a foreign country, which may expose Kuwait to war or the severance of diplomatic relations may be sent to jail.
The Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry had received an official memo from the Saudi embassy after Dashti appeared on Syrian Al-Ekhbariya TV channel on February 24 and attacked Saudi Arabia.
Dashti has been a polarising figure in Kuwait and the Gulf region. His critics accuse him of being a lackey of rival Iran for his criticism of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, and he often makes headlines for his harsh words against the two Gulf states.