Kuwait Court Upholds Three-Year Prison Sentence for ISIS Member

KUWAIT CITY, Aug 16: Kuwait’s Court of Cassation, presided over by Judge Sultan Boursli, has upheld a three-year prison sentence against a Kuwaiti citizen convicted of joining the ISIS terrorist organization and undergoing military training in Syria.

The Criminal Court had initially sentenced the defendant to five years in prison, but the Court of Appeals reduced the sentence to three years. The Court of Cassation has now rejected his appeal and upheld the ruling.

According to the case file, the defendant was accused of joining ISIS, knowing its objectives and activities aimed at undermining the fundamental systems of states through unlawful means, as well as engaging in activities that could threaten Kuwait’s national interests.

The case began after State Security received information that the defendant had joined a terrorist organization and was planning to return to Kuwait from Turkey. Following a Public Prosecution warrant, security authorities arrested him upon his arrival at Kuwait International Airport.

During questioning, the defendant reportedly admitted that he had embraced extremist jihadist ideology at a young age and, in 2016, contacted a Syrian acquaintance who was a member of ISIS with the intention of joining the group.

He said he traveled to an ISIS headquarters in the al-Tall area of rural Damascus, provided his personal details, and was later taken with other recruits to an ISIS camp, where he pledged allegiance to the group’s then-leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The defendant also admitted to undergoing approximately 30 days of military training, including firearms and ammunition handling, combat tactics and intensive physical exercises. He later surrendered to Free Syrian Army groups after they took control of the area and remained detained for about a month.

According to his statements, he continued to be a member of ISIS until 2019 before eventually returning to Kuwait.