KUWAIT: A prominent Kuwaiti opposition politician convicted of insulting the emir was granted bail yesterday, his lawyer said, prompting celebrations by supporters packing the court building and defusing tensions in the Gulf state.
Kuwait has avoided a mass Arab Spring-style uprising but unrest flared last year after the emir changed the electoral law before a parliamentary election. The opposition boycotted the Dec. 1 election.
Musallam Al-Barrak, an outspoken former member of Parliament, was accorded bail from his sentencing to five years in jail last week for remarks made at a rally last year.
The jail sentence triggered a series of street protests that underscored increasing friction between opposition figures and the government, headed by a prime minister picked by the emir.
“Today the popular movement had a victory, today the people had a victory and tomorrow the constitution will have a victory,” Barrak told a crowd awaiting him outside the heavily guarded court in the burning midday sun after the hearing.
“Today I see that the popular movement will achieve its goals,” he said, smiling and looking calm, after chanting supporters hoisted him on their shoulders and carried him through the court gates.
Hundreds of Barrak’s backers crammed into the court building after the ruling, cheering, whistling and chanting: “The people want Musallam Al-Barrak,” and “God is great”. “(This) will ease tension,” former opposition lawmaker Khaled Al-Tahous said outside the court building where police and national guard members watched the jubilation of Barrak’s faithful.
His five-year sentence was not overturned on Monday, defence lawyer Dokki Al-Hasban said.
But the court ruled that Barrak should be granted bail, on a payment of 5,000 dinars ($17,600), and that his defense team would have a chance to argue his case next month.
His defense had argued that last week’s verdict was invalid because they had not been allowed to call witnesses.
Barrak, a populist politician who draws support from some of Kuwait’s powerful tribes, was not taken into custody after his sentencing.
Security forces had searched his guesthouse and a neighboring home last week but failed to find him, supporters said. It was not clear why police had not taken him into custody during subsequent speeches at the guesthouse.
Barrak, who has emerged as a quasi-opposition leader in a country were political parties are banned, was found guilty of insulting Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah in a speech in October last year in which he urged the emir to avoid “autocratic rule.”
Kuwaiti opposition leader granted bail in insult case
Kuwaiti opposition leader granted bail in insult case
US condemns RSF drone attack on World Food Programme convoy in Sudan’s North Kordofan
- Denise Brown, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, also expresses concern over the drone attack
WASHINGTON: The US has condemned a drone attack by Rapid Support Forces on an aid convoy in Sudan’s North Kordofan state that killed one person and injured three others.
“The United States condemns the recent drone attack on a World Food Program convoy in North Kordofan transporting food to famine-stricken people which killed one and wounded many others,” US Senior Adviser for Arab and African Affairs Massad Boulos wrote on X.
“Destroying food intended for people in need and killing humanitarian workers is sickening,” the US envoy wrote.
“The Trump Administration has zero tolerance for this destruction of life and of U.S.-funded assistance; we demand accountability and extend our condolences to all those affected by these inexcusable events and terrible war,” he added.
The Sudan Doctors Network, on its social media accounts, said the World Food Programme (WFP) convoy was struck by RSF drones in the Allah Karim area as it headed toward displaced people in El-Obeid, the state capital.
The network described the attack as a “clear violation of international humanitarian law,” warning that it undermines efforts to deliver life-saving aid to civilians amid worsening humanitarian conditions across the country.
There was no immediate comment from the rebel group.
The United States condemns the recent drone attack on a World Food Program convoy in North Kordofan transporting food to famine-stricken people which killed one and wounded many others. This follows an attack earlier this week in Blue Nile state that injured a @WFP staff member.…
— U.S. Senior Advisor for Arab and African Affairs (@US_SrAdvisorAF) February 6, 2026
Denise Brown, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, in a statement also expressed concern over the drone attack which hit the aid trucks in North Kordofan.
“I am deeply concerned by a drone attack earlier today on trucks contracted by the World Food Programme (WFP) in North Kordofan, the aftermath of which I came across a few hours later, as I left the state capital, El Obeid.”
“The trucks were en route from Kosti to deliver life-saving food assistance to displaced families near El Obeid when they were struck, tragically killing at least one individual and injuring many more. The trucks caught fire, destroying food commodities intended for life-saving humanitarian response.”
Brown added that “Humanitarian personnel, assets and supplies must be protected at all times. Attacks on aid operations undermine efforts to reach people facing hunger and displacement.”
“Safe and unimpeded humanitarian access remains critical to ensure assistance reaches the most vulnerable people across Sudan.”
Since April 2023, the conflict between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary forces has killed tens of thousands, displaced 11 million and which the UN has described as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
An alert issued by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), confirmed famine conditions in El-Fasher and Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan, about 800 kilometers to the east.
The IPC said that 20 more areas in Sudan’s Darfur and neighboring Kordofan were at risk of famine.
Of Sudan’s 18 states, the RSF controls all five states in the western Darfur region, except for parts of North Darfur that remain under army control. The army holds most areas of the remaining 13 states across the south, north, east and center of the country, including the capital, Khartoum.
The conflict between the army and the RSF, which erupted in April 2023, has killed thousands of people and displaced millions.
