'Fake' video tape ends Kuwait coup investigation

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-31947945

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Kuwait's public prosecutor has dropped all investigations into an alleged coup plot in 2013.

On Wednesday, prosecutors announced that a video recording showing plans for a coup was a fake.

The videotape had allegedly showed prominent former Kuwaiti politicians planning to overthrow the government.

Government investigators first opened the case in December 2013 but said the tape was not authentic and had been "edited".

The recording, which includes both audio and video material, appeared to suggest that former Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah and former Parliament Speaker Jassem al-Kharafi were discussing plans to topple the government of the Western-backed Emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah.

Reports about the tape have featured extensively in local media, prompting the government to order a media blackout of the case.

Kuwait's parliament is one of the few elected bodies in the Gulf.