On 31 January 2024, a Kuwaiti Court of Appeal convicted and sentenced Mohammad al-Barghash, a defender of the rights of the stateless Bidun community in Kuwait, to three years in prison on charges that include “spreading false news” after he conducted an interview with a foreign broadcasting channel discussing the Bidun situation. A court of first instance had acquitted him on 25 October 2023, but the prosecution appealed the verdict. If the authorities do carry out the prison sentence, he would be a prisoner of conscience.
