A Kuwaiti court sentenced a prominent female human rights activist to three years in jail on charges of insulting the country's ruler on Sunday, newspapers in the country reported.
"The Criminal Court today sentenced Rana al-Sadoun to three years with hard labour in the case of her repeating a speech by Musallam al-Barrak," Kuwaiti newspaper al-Qabas said.
Her supporters online said she currently resides in Lebanon.
Musallam al-Barrak, a former member of parliament, this year began serving a two-year term for a 2012 speech criticising an election law which he and other opposition politicians said was intended to prevent them getting power.
While Kuwait allows more freedom of speech than some other Gulf Arab states, the country's emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, has the last say in state affairs.
Addressed to the Kuwaiti ruler, al-Barrak's so-called "We will not allow you" speech has been read aloud as a symbol of solidarity by his supporters and rights activists, including Sadoun in a video uploaded online in 2013.
Sadoun is a founder of the National Committee for Monitoring Violations, an organisation which observes protests, publishes details of arrests and puts people in touch with lawyers.
In a video statement posted online in March, Sadoun said she did not intend to insult the emir or show support for al-Barrak.
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