A prominent Kuwaiti opposition leader has been granted bail pending appeal against a five-year jail sentence for insulting the emir, BBC News reported.

Mussallam al-Barrak, a former MP, was carried aloft out of court on the shoulders of his supporters. He had refused to turn himself in last week following the verdict, leading to violent confrontations in the streets between his supporters and police.

Kuwait has cracked down on criticism of the royal family, jailing offenders. The appeals court is reviewing Barrak's conviction and sentence.

As he emerged from the courthouse, Barrak told a cheering crowd: "Today the popular movement had a victory, today the people had a victory and tomorrow the constitution will have a victory."

Barrak had first been detained in October on suspicion of "undermining the status of the emir".

He had warned the Emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Sabah, in a speech that he would not be allowed to "take Kuwait into the abyss of autocracy".

Kuwait has not witnessed the same scale of pro-democracy uprisings as in other Arab states, but there has been growing tension between former members of parliament and the government, which is dominated by the al-Sabah family.