Decision to jail cleric upheld for spying

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KUWAIT CITY, Dec 3: Three years after the final ruling against the defendants in the infamous Abdally cell case, the Court of Cassation dismissed the appeals filed by the defendants against the ruling of the Court of Appeals convicted of aiding and abetting the suspects, being affiliated to a banned organization (Hezbollah) and spying for the Iranian intelligence service.

The court rejected some of the appeals and dismissed some of them, in addition to rejecting the appeals filed by the Public Prosecution. This means the court upheld the decision of a lower court to imprison religious cleric Hussein Al-Maatouq and his secretary for five years with hard labor for conspiring with Iran.

The court also cancelled the ruling which necessitated police surveillance on them after serving their sentence. The court overturned the three-year prison sentence imposed on nine defendants accused of aiding and abetting the suspects, and acquitted six of them.

It also suspended the imprisonment of another defendant for three years, settled for sentences of three years and six months for two defendants, while the sentences of the remaining three defendants cannot be appealed given that the ruling was issued in absentia.

The case dates back to August 2015 when the Interior Ministry announced the discovery of a cell of 25 Kuwaitis and Iranians dealing with Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which stockpiled large quantities of weapons and explosives in order to carry out hostile acts against Kuwait.

By Jaber Al-Hamoud Al-Seyassah Staff

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