Kuwait jails senior official for joining IS; Probe ordered as Barrak attacked in prison

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KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19, (AFP): Kuwait’s Supreme Court on Sunday sentenced a top bureaucrat to 10 years in jail for joining and fighting with the Islamic State jihadist group in Syria and Iraq. The court also fined the unnamed Kuwaiti national, who was a top official at the Kuwait municipality, $30,000 and convicted him of calling other people to join the group.

The ruling is final and cannot be challenged. Kuwaiti courts have sentenced a number of IS members, sympathisers and financiers to various jail terms. A lower court in December sentenced a Filipina to 10 years in jail after convicting her of joining the jihadist group and plotting attacks.

Authorities in July said they had dismantled three IS cells plotting attacks, including a suicide bombing against a Shiite mosque and against an interior ministry target. An IS-linked Saudi suicide bomber killed 26 worshippers in June 2015 when he blew himself up in a mosque of Kuwait’s Shiite minority, in the worst such attack in the Gulf state’s history.

Probe ordered as Barrak attacked in prison
An investigation was ordered by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minster of Interior Sheikh Khalid Al-Jarrah as a matter of urgency to uncover circumstances surrounding an incident between Musallam Al-Barrak and another inmate of the Central Prison.

Information released by the Public Relations and Media Security Department indicated Al-Barrak sustained bruises during the scuffle. He was taken to Farwaniya Hospital for treatment before the medical report was forwarded to the minister. The report added the incident occurred after Al-Barrak had finished his break, and the minister reiterated attack of any kind among inmates is unacceptable. He ordered immediate submission of report to ensure that whoever slacks in his duty is punished

By Munaif Nayef
Al-Seyassah Staff and Agencies

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