Sentencing of a ‘former MP’
more than three years ago, i filed a lawsuit against former mp hamad al-matar, who was the representative of the muslim brotherhood in the national assembly at that time, following a statement he made from the national assembly podium that was widely circulated.
the statement included offensive and defamatory remarks about me, in which he said verbatim, “i am now talking about other people who always talk about the quality of education, but when it comes to important issues like this, they make no comment. for example, mr. ahmad alsarraf talks about the quality of education every day. in my opinion, you are like a solution with a low concentration of liberalism but saturated with sectarianism…”
the court stated that the defendant, al-matar, was not confronted with the charges against him as he went into hiding and failed to appear before the public prosecution despite being summoned several times during the investigation.
the court of appeals issued its ruling in the case, fining him kd 150 and referring the civil claim to the competent court.
therefore, my lawyer requested the civil court to order the defendant to pay kd 5,001 as provisional compensation, in addition to court costs and attorney’s fees, for material and moral damages.
in 2025, the court of first instance ordered the defendant to pay kd 100 in moral damages and a similar amount for actual attorney’s fees. i appealed the ruling before the court of appeals, citing flawed reasoning, insufficient justification, and the minimal moral damages awarded, which were disproportionate to the extent of the harm.
i requested the court to order the defendant to pay kd 5,001 as provisional compensation, as this reflected the material damages incurred. however, the court of appeals accepted the appeal in form and, on the merits, overturned the earlier ruling insofar as it rejected the claim for material compensation and amended it with regard to the awarded moral damages.
the court of appeals ordered the respondent to pay the appellant kd 600 as final compensation for material and moral damages. the court also ordered the respondent to pay the costs of both levels of litigation and kd 100 for actual attorney’s fees at the appeal level. since this type of lawsuit cannot be appealed before the court of cassation, i accept the court of appeals’ ruling.
