Summary The former MP has to appear again in court in December to resume the trial.
KUWAIT CITY (AFP) - A Kuwaiti court released Monday prominent opposition leader Mussallam al-Barrak, whose arrest last week for allegedly insulting the judiciary sparked a series of protests in the Gulf state.
"I order the release of the defendant on a bail of 5,000 dinars ($17,800)," said judge Ahmad al-Athari, triggering jubilation among Barrak s supporters in the small, jampacked courtroom.
The public prosecutor had ordered Barrak be detained for 10 days on Wednesday on charges of insulting the supreme judicial council and slandering its chairman Faisal al-Marshed in a speech he delivered at a public rally last month.
"Oh Mussallam, you are the conscience of the whole nation," shouted the crowd of supporters after the judge ordered Barrak s release.
Barrak s lawyer Thamer al-Jadaei told AFP his client would be freed from the central jail within hours.
The former MP has to appear again in court in December to resume the trial for which he faces a maximum of three years in jail.
The court s decision comes after five nights of clashes between opposition activists who have been demanding his release and riot police who have fired tear gas and stun grenades and arrested more than 50 people.
