A Kuwait court has jailed three former opposition MPs for three years for insulting the Kuwaiti emir.

The ex-MPS, Falah al-Sawwagh, Bader al-Dahoum and Khaled al-Tahous, were sentenced by the court for criticising the emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Saba, at a political rally in October last year.

Earlier in February, human rights groups claimed that an activist was sentenced to five years in prison for posting an “offensive” comment about the emir on twitter. In January, two Kuwaitis were each jailed for two years for a similar offence.