Qatar court upholds poet's jail sentence

Qatar’s highest court on Sunday upheld a 15-year prison sentence for poet Mohamed Rashid al-Ajami, who was imprisoned in 2011 on charges of insulting the Emir of Qatar and spreading incendiary material.

While Ajami was granted an appeal in February when his jail term was reduced from life in prison to 15 years, Monday’s sentence was the final verdict from the Court of Cassation in Doha.

"The Court of Cassation sentenced Mohammed al-Ajami to 15 years in prison," confirming the sentence given to the poet by the appeals court, Ajami's lawyer Nejib al-Naimi told AFP news agency.

Naimi described Monday's court ruling as "a political and not a judicial decision," reported AFP.

Ajami's sole recourse now is to appeal to Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani for clemency.

"I hope the emir will grant him an amnesty," Naimi told the news agency.

Ajami was arrested on Nov. 29, 2011 after the publication of his "Jasmine poem," which criticized governments across the Gulf region in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings.

"We are all Tunisia in the face of the repressive elite," he wrote, referring to the North African country which was the birthplace of the Arab Spring.

In a possible allusion to Qatar, home to a major U.S. base, he wrote: "I hope that change will come in countries whose ignorant leaders believe that glory lies in U.S. forces."

Throughout Ajami’s trial, his lawyer insisted that there was no evidence he had publicly recited the poem, a key part of the prosecution case.

Naimi, a former justice minister, had argued that on the charges leveled against him, his client ought to be liable to a maximum sentence of five years in jail.

Al Jazeera and wire services