Press conference: Overturn the wrongful conviction in absentia of lawyer and human rights defender Dr. Abdulhameed Dashti

Government reprisal against human rights defenders and activists has become the norm in the Gulf region; hence resulting in the arbitrary detention, citizenship revocation, prosecution, and torture of countless activists. To illustrate, our organization’s president and Kuwaiti MP from June 2014 until October 2015, Dr Abdulhameed Dashti, is a recent victim of this policy as he has been sentenced by kuwaiti and bahraini courts to 16 years and six months in absentia for remarks deemed highly offensive to fellow Gulf States Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

The purpose of this press conference is to explain why the sentencing of Dr Dashti is unlawful and make an urgent call for all stakeholders including the UN human rights council and the office of the high commissioner to urge the government authorities to immediately and unconditionally stop these vile repressions against human rights defenders in the middle east, in particular to call on the Kuwaiti government to overturn the harsh jail sentence of prominent Lawyer and human rights defender Dr Abdulhameed Dashti.