Kuwait's lower court acquitted on Sunday 17 stateless men from charges of taking part in illegal protests and assaulting policemen, one of their lawyers said. The court found no evidence to prove any of the accusations made against the men by the public prosecution which also charged them of illegal assembly with the intent to commit crimes, Khaled al-Kafifa said in a statement.
The men were the second group of stateless protesters to be acquitted after a similar court in February cleared 31 others.
Around 150 stateless men, locally known as bidoons, are facing trial in groups after they were arrested for taking part in demonstrations over the past 14 months to demand citizenship and other basic rights.
Kuwait launched a crackdown on the estimated 105,000 bidoons in 2000, depriving them of health care, education and jobs to force them to reveal their actual nationality. The stateless claim they are Kuwaiti citizens who have been denied nationality.
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