A Kuwaiti court yesterday sentenced MP Abdul Hamid Dashti to 14 years and six months in prison on charges of insulting Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

Judicial sources, who spoke to the Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity, said the Kuwaiti Criminal Court sentenced Dashti in absentia to 11 years and six months on the charge of offending Saudi Arabia, and three years on the charge of offending Bahrain.

Dashti can appeal against the sentence but he must hand himself into the authorities first. He had left the country on the grounds that he needed medical treatment in the UK.

Parliamentary immunity was lifted from Dashti in March. This came following his remarks on Syria TV where he urged forces to “hit the basis of Takfiri Wahhabi in their own home,” in an apparent reference to Saudi Arabia, though he did not mention the kingdom by name.