KUWAIT EXPELS IRANIAN DIPLOMATS OVER PLOT
Hunt for 16 linked to terrorist cell who were convicted of espionage
Kuwait has asked Iran to reduce its diplomatic presence in the country as security forces hunt 15 Kuwaiti nationals and an Iranian who were convicted of espionage and other activities against the state.
The Kuwaiti foreign ministry yesterday issued an order for 15 of the Iranian embassy’s 19 diplomats to leave the country within 45 days.
The ministry also froze all cooperation with Iran, acording to Kuwait’s state news agency.
Sheikh Mohammed Abdulla Al Sabah, minister of state for cabinet affairs, said the reduction in diplomatic ties was to preserve Kuwaiti rights.
The Iranian foreign ministry said it had summoned Kuwait’s charge d’affaires in Tehran for clarification and to protest at the reduction in Iranian embassy staff, Iran’s Irna news agency reported.
On Wednesday, the Kuwaiti interior ministry said 15 Kuwaitis, all Shiites and linked to a cell uncovered in 2015 that was spying for Iran and Hizbollah, had gone missing, along with an Iranian who had also been convicted in the case.
The interior ministry said security forces had begun raiding potential hideouts throughout the country, and urged citizens and residents to co-operate by providing any information about the fugitives. Those found helping them would face prosecution, it said.
Parliament held an emergency joint session yesterday after the ministry’s revelation and called for “ministers to resign” or else face questioning.
The fugitives, who had appealed against their convictions, were released in February but barred from leaving the country, the Kuwaiti daily Al
Jarida reported.
The 16 men were found to have links to the so-called Abdalli terrorist cell, named after the northern area of Kuwait where security forces in 2015 discovered the largest cache of guns and bombs yet found in the country.
A Kuwait lower court last year convicted 23 of 26 suspects linked to the terrorist cell of crimes including spying for foreign entities, trading in weapons and training with firearms with intent to commit violence.
Two men were given death sentences, later reduced to life in prison, while the others were sentenced to between five years and life in jail. The convictions were overturned on appeal several months later.
However, the supreme court last month overturned the acquittals of the 16 men now on the run, and sentenced one of them to life, another to 15 years, and rest to 10 years each.
Iran has denied any links to the cell, but Kuwaiti officials have accused Tehran of trying to interfere in domestic affairs by infiltrating local Shiite communities.
Relations between Kuwait’s Sunni and Shiite populations are less strained than in some other Gulf Arab countries, which has been attributed to stronger national unity forged from the hardships endured during the 1991 Gulf War.
However, foreign actors have often tried to spark conflict among Kuwait’s 1.4 million Sunni-majority population.
In 2015, the Sunni extremist group ISIL carried out a suicide bomb attack on a Shiite mosque that killed 27 people and injured 227 in the worst
terrorist attack in Kuwait’s history.
Kuwait’s 87-year-old emir, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed, arrived at the scene within 15 minutes of the bombing, a move viewed by Kuwaitis as key to quelling any sectarian backlash that might have resulted from the attack.
Shortly afterwards, the Sunni monarch called for increased social cohesion and pushed to crack down on terrorist groups in the country.
Within two weeks of the bombing at Al Imam Al Sadiq mosque, security forces uncovered the Abdali cell during raids on farmhouses near Kuwait’s border with Iraq.
Shortly afterwards, 25 nationals and the Iranian were charged with links to Iran and spying for Hizbollah, the Iran-backed Shiite militant group in Lebanon.
Saudi Arabia, along with the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt have cited Qatar’s close relations with Iran as one of the reasons for cutting diplomatic ties with Doha on June 5.
Sheikh Sabah is acting as chief mediator in the row between the Gulf countries and remains hopeful that the impasse can be resolved.
Kuwait has managed to successfully balance its strong relationship with Saudi Arabia while making steps towards improving relations with Riyadh’s arch-rival Iran, despite a series of Iran-linked terrorist attacks in the 1980s.