Prominent Bedoon rights defender Mohammed Al-Barghash has been acquitted in the latest court case against him. He has repeatedly faced legal complaints due to his peaceful and legitimate human rights activism, particularly his courageous defence of the civil and human rights of Bedoon citizens.

On 14 May 2025, the Court of Appeals acquitted Al-Barghash, upholding the initial verdict. The charges against him included allegedly spreading false news and insulting and slandering employees of the Central Apparatus for Illegal Residents’ Affairs, which had initially filed the complaint against him.

In February 2024, while he was in prison for a separate case, the Court of First Instance initially acquitted him of the charges against him. However, the Central Apparatus decided to appeal this ruling, seeking to undermine him due to his public criticism of their work, which only served to perpetuate discrimination and deprivation against stateless citizens and their families.

Last year, on 31 January 2024, the Court of Appeal sentenced Al-Barghash to three years in prison with hard labour, after convicting him of the charges brought against him, namely, spreading fake news, harming the state’s reputation, and misusing a telephone device. He was placed in Central Prison immediately after the verdict.

Prior to that ruling, the Court of First Instance had decided, in its hearing held on 27 October 2023, to acquit Al-Barghash of all the charges brought against him. He was released subsequently after 55 days of detention in the Central Prison, during which he suffered various human rights violations. At the forefront of these violations was his interrogation after he was taken blindfolded and handcuffed to the State Security Apparatus, where he was interrogated by six officers who put psychological pressure on him and threatened him with torture, which led to the deterioration of his health and his transfer to the hospital.

The Public Prosecution filed its appeal against the initial ruling, in addition to a one-year suspended prison sentence issued against Al-Barghash in another case, solely due to his continued peaceful work in the field of human rights.

On 21 December 2024, the Court of Cassation acquitted him of charges of allegedly spreading false news on social media about the authorities’ mistreatment of stateless citizens and overturned his three-year prison sentence. He was released after serving about a year in prison.

Al-Barghash belongs to the Bedoon community in Kuwait. He founded the National Bloc of Kuwaiti Bedoons, which he also heads, and which has organised a number of events to shed light on the chronic problems that the Bedoon community suffers and demand radical solutions to them. He uses his X accountto share his peaceful views and defend the rights of stateless citizens.

The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) calls on the Kuwaiti government to immediately cease targeting prominent Bedoon rights defender Mohammed Al-Barghash and refrain from harassing him judicially or otherwise. GCHR also calls on the Kuwaiti government to work diligently to grant the Bedoon community their basic human rights and to ensure respect for the civil and human rights of citizens, most notably freedom of expression.