KUWAIT: A Kuwaiti activist sentenced to seven years in prison after he stormed parliament has begun a hunger strike in jail to demand a mistrial, according to his family. Sulaiman Binjassem was one of 67 people handed prison sentences in November over a 2011 protest calling for an investigation into corruption and bribery.

A statement from Binjassem’s family said he had launched an indefinite hunger strike on Thursday because the 2017 ruling failed to meet the standards of a fair trial, including allowing witnesses to testify. Mohammed Al-Hamidi, who heads the Kuwait Human Rights Society, told AFP the Kuwaiti appeals court had not yet allowed defense attorneys to appeal the sentencing.