Democracy activists on Monday urged the Gulf Arab monarchies to undertake wide-ranging political reforms including the establishment of elected parliaments and constitutions and allowing political parties.

"The Gulf people should be allowed to elect their representatives in a democratic way and through a direct ballot," said the liberal Gulf Forum for Civil Societies.

Human Rights Watch Thursday blasted a ruling by Kuwait's top court to uphold a disputed law that sends people to jail for up to five years for criticizing the ruler.

The New York-based HRW said the ruling "dealt a blow to free speech."

Gulf Arab leaders meeting in Kuwait on Wednesday called for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from war-ravaged Syria, and praised Iran's new government for its shift in policy.

The leaders of the six Gulf monarchies also approved the formation of a joint military command, but postponed a decision on a proposed union apparently over differences.

A decade after Saddam Hussein's arrest, the now-executed Iraqi dictator's legacy of conflicts, sanctions and repression still exact a heavy toll on the country.

And as oil-rich Iraq grows increasingly important to the global economy and regional diplomacy, his legacy of a slow-moving, hierarchical bureaucracy and corrupt decision-making processes have hamstrung a country looking to rebuild.

Syrian opposition leader Ahmed Jarba on Tuesday appealed for urgent help for the Syrian opposition and civilians as he took part in the opening session of the 34th Gulf Cooperation Council Summit in Kuwait.

"The Syrian people need you today to tell the whole world that the Syrian regime will have no future in the country," said Jarba, who also thanked Kuwait for launching an "aid fund" without providing any details.

Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah opened an annual summit of wealthy Gulf states on Tuesday with a call for an end to the "human catastrophe" in Syria.

Sheikh Sabah, who gave a share of the spotlight at the Gulf Cooperation Council summit to the head of Syria's main opposition bloc, also condemned the United Nations for failing to halt the 33-month conflict.

Kuwait's lower court on Monday acquitted 70 opposition activists including nine former MPs of charges of storming the parliament building in the oil-rich Gulf state two years ago.

"All the defendants were found not guilty" of charges of storming a public building, assaulting police, resisting orders and damaging public property, in the ruling by judge Hisham Abdullah.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Friday that Syrian President Bashar Assad must stand down to allow for any peaceful settlement to the 33-month-old conflict in his country.

"We have always been very clear that a peaceful solution in Syria must require the departure of President Assad," Hague told a press conference in Kuwait's capital after talks with his Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Sabah Khaled al-Sabah.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, on a tour of Gulf states, will visit the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday, he wrote on his Facebook page.

"Following the visit last week of the UAE's foreign minister to Tehran, tomorrow I will go to the Emirates and will have meetings with the high-ranking officials ... in Dubai and Abu Dhabi," Zarif said in his Tuesday post.

Kuwait's top court on Monday upheld as constitutional a disputed law under which people who "offend" the emir can be jailed for up to five years.

The constitutional court rejected challenges by lawyers defending activists to demand the penal code provision be abolished for allegedly suppressing freedom of speech guaranteed under the basic law.