KUWAIT CITY, May 1: The Court of Appeals, presided over by Judge Naser Salem Al-Haid and including judges Saud Al-Sanea and Tariq Metwally, upheld the Criminal Court’s ruling which sentenced a Kuwaiti citizen to five years ‘ imprisonment, and acquitted a second defendant in a case involving charges of joining and financing ISIS, as well as creating a website to promote the group’s ideology. The first defendant is a soldier in the Ministry of Defense, and the second is employed as an assistant engineer.

The Public Prosecution charged the two with joining a terrorist organization, ISIS, facilitating communication among its members, and promoting its extremist ideology. It stated that their actions endangered national interests and undermined the state’s core principles by joining ISIS, which is classified as a terrorist organization under a United Nations Security Council resolution. The Public Prosecution stated that the first defendant confessed to all charges, admitting his support for ISIS and pledging allegiance to the group’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He also admitted to following ISIS-related content on various social media platforms, as well as initiating contact with an individual named Abu Amara, an ISIS member and supporter, via the Telegram messaging app in 2016. Abu Amara requested a donation to support ISIS, and the defendant responded by handing over KD 60 to an individual in Kuwait linked to Abu Amara.

The defendant also joined several pro-ISIS social media channels and groups and created multiple Telegram channels, making them publicly accessible for others to join. The first defendant said he met the second defendant in 2017 through Telegram after discovering the latter’s interest in ISIS. The second defendant expressed a desire to travel to Syria to join ISIS fighters. In response, the first defendant told him that the situation at the time made travel to Syria difficult and instead suggested going to Yemen to join the group there. However, the second defendant was unable to travel to Yemen, and their relationship ended in 2018. The second defendant also admitted to communicating via Telegram with several individuals affiliated with ISIS, most recently in 2024 with a man known as “Abu Amir,” with the intent of recruiting them to join ISIS fighters in Syria.

By Jaber Al-Hamoud
Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff