A court in Kuwait has sentenced an opposition activist to two years in prison for insulting the Gulf state’s ruler.

Hamed al-Khaledi  was sentenced by the lower court on 31 March, charged with insulting Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, on social networking site, Twitter. According to AFP news agency, Al-Khaledi’s lawyer, Jasser al-Jadaei will file an appeal.

Al-Khaledi is not alone, however. More than a dozen others have been jailed so far. Just a week before his sentencing, Bader al-Rasheedi, another Twitter activist, was condemned to a five-year term. He had been in prison since the end of November. His original sentence was two years, but the term was lengthened.

Another significant case involves Musallam al-Barrak, a former parliamentarian and unofficial leader of the opposition movement. Al-Barrak is also accused of insulting Kuwait’s ruler at a rally in the middle of October and awaits trial.