title: Kuwait court sentences MPs to jail terms for storming into parliament
text: KUWAIT (Reuters) - A Kuwaiti court handed several lawmakers jail terms on Monday for forcing their way into the parliament building in 2011 - a move that could cause political turbulence in the Gulf Arab region s most liberal state. Protesters burst into parliament in 2011 after lawmakers had been denied the right to question then prime minister Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah about corruption allegations. Kuwait s al-Qabas newspaper said the court sentenced current MPs Jamaan al-Harbash and Waleed al-Tabtabai to five years and MP Mohammed al-Mutair to one year. An outspoken former parliament deputy, Musallam al-Barrak, who earlier this year finished serving a two-year prison sentence for insulting the country s ruler, was sentenced to seven years. The MPs have a considerable political following, especially among Kuwait s traditional tribes which have influence in areas outside the main cities. Kuwait avoided mass Arab Spring-style unrest though citizens held large street protests in 2012 after the Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber al-Sabah changed the electoral law.  While Kuwait allows more freedom of speech than some other Gulf Arab states, the emir has the last say in state affairs. There have been a series of political trials and authorities have revoked citizenship of some Kuwaitis in the past several years that have drawn rebuke abroad and anger at home. 