The United Arab Emirates' state news agency says the country's Federal Supreme Court has convicted a former Islamist lawmaker from Kuwait of insulting the country's leadership and spreading false rumors in a televised interview

The WAM agency said Friday that Mubarak al-Duwailah was sentenced to five years in prison.

The case centers around al-Duwailah's comments last year on Kuwait's official parliament channel in which he criticized Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nayhan for his stance against the Muslim Brotherhood group and "Sunni Islam."

The Abu Dhabi-based The National newspaper added that he'd been tried and sentenced in absentia.

The UAE was a staunch backer of Egypt's military crackdown against the Brotherhood in 2013. The UAE also outlawed the group and arrested dozens of Islamists throughout the country.

AP