Manama: Kuwait’s Criminal Court has sentenced 19 Kuwaitis to 10 years in prison after they were found guilty of fighting alongside the Daesh terror group in Syria.
None of the defendants was at the court amid reports they were all abroad.
The public prosecutor in his charges said the defendants carried out an act of hostility against a foreign country (Syria), joined the banned Daesh group, were trained in a Daesh camp in using weapons and ammunition, war and the destruction of military equipment.
Such actions could expose Kuwait to the risk of war and to the severance of diplomatic ties with a foreign country, he added.
The defendants also joined forces with a banned group to disseminate principles aimed at the illegal destruction of the basic foundations of Arab states and the forcible assault on their social and economic order, the prosecutor was quoted by Kuwaiti daily Al Seyassah as saying on Tuesday.
They were also well aware the training in the use of firepower meant they would be used to combat the Syrian armed forces and to overthrow the Syrian regime in preparation for the establishment of the Daesh state.
Sources told Al Qabas daily Kuwaiti authorities were now looking into the files of dozens of people who left country more than six months ago and got involved in terrorism.
“Some of those who are being monitored had left for Europe on academic scholarships or went abroad as companions for patients who needed medical treatment and then moved to zones of conflicts,” the sources were quoted as saying.
“Whenever there is enough evidence against any of these suspects, his case is readily transferred to the public prosecution and to a court of justice without waiting for his return home or his extradition.”
