Kuwait's pardoned dissidents return to a country in crisis

Dissidents still languish in prison or exile and authorities have snuffed out all hints of opposition over a decade after uprisings known as the Arab Spring reached autocratic sheikhdoms of the Persian Gulf

KUWAIT CITY -- More than a decade after a wave of uprisings swept across the Middle East, countless dissidents have encountered grim fates: exiled, imprisoned, disappeared, dead.

Until mere months ago, Musallam al-Barrak, the icon of opposition in Kuwait, seemed another Arab Spring casualty.

As high hopes of protests curdled into political chaos and the downfall of dictators left Gulf Arab states feeling increasingly vulnerable, Kuwait smothered dissent. Four years ago, al-Barrak fled to Turkey so as not to face prison again.

But now, he is home.