Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain — the Court of Appeal's three-year sentence against content creator Bader Al-Hussainan, and wartime prosecutions for online expression (August 2026)

THE CASE. According to ADHRB, on 18 June 2026 the Court of Appeal sentenced comedian and content creator Bader Al-Hussainan to three years in prison, overturning an earlier acquittal. The case concerned a short Snapchat video in which he and others appeared in military helmets in a satirical scene. It was referred to the State Security Court on charges of spreading false information, undermining military readiness and spreading fear among the public during wartime.

OTHER CASES ADHRB LISTS. Human Rights Watch's call for the release of Kuwaiti-American journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, detained on publication and security charges; the three-year sentence of presenter Zainab Dashti over statements about the war; and a State Security Court ruling on social-media users over war-related posts that, ADHRB says, sentenced 17 people to three years and one to ten years, declined to punish 109 (ordering their posts deleted) and acquitted nine.

THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK. ADHRB describes Decree-Law No. 47 of 2026 on Combating Terrorist Crimes (issued 15 March 2026) through Amnesty International's assessment: a broad and vague definition of "terrorist act", an expanded death penalty, specialised prosecution and court chambers for terrorism and state security cases, restrictions on individuals without a conviction, closed hearings and limited appeal. It quotes Articles 30, 36 and 37 of the Constitution (personal liberty; opinion and expression "subject to the conditions and stipulations specified by Law"; press freedom subject to law) and names the State Security Law, the Press and Publications Law and the Electronic Media Law as the main restrictions. It relies on ICCPR Art. 19 and UDHR Art. 19.

ADHRB calls for the release of those detained for peaceful expression, including Mr Al-Hussainan, a review of the restrictive legislation and an end to prosecutions of journalists and social-media users for their opinions.

USE IN A REPORT: this is an NGO's account; the sentences and figures it gives have not been checked by Kuwait Mirror against court records or the Kuwaiti press, so attribute them to ADHRB. The piece is useful as a summary of the wartime prosecutions of 2026 and of the constitutional provisions on expression.

ADHRB states that Kuwait "ratified" the ICCPR "in 1966". The UN Treaty Collection records Kuwait's accession to the Covenant on 21 May 1996, with interpretative declarations and a reservation on Article 25(b); a report should use that date. Amnesty International's assessment of Decree-Law No. 47 of 2026, on which ADHRB relies, is on the Dossier (Amnesty International, August 2026). The decree-law's own text is not yet on the Dossier: the only public consolidated version we have found is incomplete, so its provisions should be cited from the Official Gazette.