A Kuwaiti court sentenced a female rights activist to three years in jail on Sunday after convicting her in absentia of publicly criticising the oil-rich Gulf state's ruler. The lower court convicted Rana Jassem al-Saadun of repeating parts of a speech made by prominent opposition leader Mussallam al-Barrak for which he is serving a two-year jail term, according to the ruling. In the speech, delivered at a public rally in October 2012, Barrak warned emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah against amending the electoral law to help the government control parliament.