CRIMINAL COURT AMENDS LIBEL VERDICT AGAINST AL-

UNCLAS KUWAIT 005122 SIPDIS SIPDIS FOR NEA/ARPI, NEA/P (GSULLIVAN),NEA/PPD (CWHITTLESSEY),LONDON FOR TSOU, PARIS FOR ZEYA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KISL SCUL KIRF KPAO KU SUBJECT: CRIMINAL COURT AMENDS LIBEL VERDICT AGAINST AL- WATAN REF: KUWAIT 4999 ¶1. On December 10, the Kuwaiti Criminal Court amended its December 3 sentence of Islamist columnist Ahmad Al-Kose and Shaykh Khalifa Ali Al-Khalifa Al-Sabah, editor-in-chief of the Arabic daily Al-Watan; the two men were convicted for publishing a libelous editorial against liberal political science professor and columnist Dr. Ahmad Al-Baghdadi (reftel). The court downgraded the sentence from a two- month suspended jail sentence and a 50KD ($170) fine to just the 50KD fine. The court also overturned its one-week suspension of Al-Watan after the daily objected to the ruling. ********************************************* Visit Kuwait's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/ You can also access the site through the State Department's Classified SIPRNET website ********************************************* LEBARON