Country Reports on Terrorism 2017 - Kuwait

Overview: During 2017, the Government of Kuwait initiated new lines of effort as part of its multi-agency endeavor to foster moderation and address violent extremism. New initiatives included imam training and school outreach programs as well as a new TV channel targeting demographics thought more susceptible to radicalization to violence. Kuwait took important steps to implement the United Nations (UN) Security Council ISIL (Da'esh) and al-Qa'ida sanctions regime, and joined both the Egmont Group and the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center (TFTC), a U.S.-Gulf Cooperation Council(GCC) initiative announced during President Trump's May visit to Saudi Arabia. Despite continued efforts by ISIS to target Kuwait, there were no terrorist incidents in its territory in 2017. Kuwait was an active partner in post-ISIS stabilization and reconstruction efforts in Iraq. Kuwait also co-chaired and participated in numerous meetings for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. During the second U.S.-Kuwait Strategic Dialogue, held in Washington, D.C. in September, Kuwait signed a counterterrorism information-sharing arrangement aimed at deterring terrorist attacks and enhancing the bilateral security partnership with the United States.

In July, the Kuwaiti Higher Authority for Communication established a new Directorate for Cybersecurity, which it tasked, inter alia, with "fighting violent extremism."

Legislation, Law Enforcement, and Border Security: There were no substantial changes in counterterrorism legislation since 2016.

In April, authorities in the Philippines arrested and extradited to Kuwait a 40-year old Kuwaiti ISIS foreign terrorist fighter. The Kuwaiti Public Prosecutor pressed charges of manufacturing explosives and attempting to carry out terrorist attacks in Kuwait.

In June, a criminal court sentenced to life an Egyptian expatriate for the attempted murder of three U.S. military servicemen in October 2016. In the same month, the Court of Cassation (Kuwait's highest appeal's court) upheld lower court imprisonment verdicts against three ISIS members, including the group's leader in Kuwait.

In June, the Court of Cassation issued appeal verdicts for the 26 suspects convicted of amassing a large cache of ammunition, weapons, and explosives at a farm near the Iraqi border in August 2015. The court commuted one of the two death sentences issued by the lower court. It increased the sentences issued by the lower court against 19 defendants and upheld the acquittals of the remaining appellants. In August, after weeks of speculation that 16 of the 19 appellants in the case had escaped to Iran, Kuwaiti authorities announced their re-arrest and remand to prison to begin serving their sentences.

In September, the Court of Appeals reduced the sentence from seven to five years imprisonment of a 19-year-old Kuwaiti man convicted of plotting to bomb a Shia mosque and a police station in 2016.

In October, the Public Prosecutor filed terrorism finance charges against three Syrian expatriates in Kuwait for allegedly transmitting collected charitable donations to ISIS in Syria. Also in October, the Appeals Court rejected a petition from UN-designated Kuwaiti terrorism financer Jaber al-Jalahmah to unfreeze his assets.

During the course of 2017, the Ministry of Interior sent 35 of its law-enforcement personnel to the United States to complete several short-term training programs as part of Kuwait's efforts to build its counterterrorism capacity.

In September, as part of the bilateral Strategic Dialogue, Kuwait and the United States expressed their intent to expand their partnership in counterterrorism, including through the creation of a security committee focused on improving the information exchange on foreign terrorist fighters.

Countering the Financing of Terrorism: Kuwait is a member of the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force, a Financial Action Task Force (FATF)-style regional body, and served as its president in 2017. Kuwait's Financial Intelligence Unit became a member of the Egmont Group in July 2017. Kuwait is also a member of the Defeat-ISIS Coalition's Counter-ISIS Finance Group.

In October, Kuwait joined the United States and GCC member countries in announcing 13 designations under each country's respective domestic authorities of individuals and entities affiliated with AQAP and ISIS-Yemen. This was the first such cooperative measure under the newly established TFTC, which acts as an information sharing and coordinating body for the Gulf countries' terrorism financing efforts. Kuwait's National Committee on Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing finalized its National Risk Assessment with the help of the World Bank at the end of 2017.

The Central Bank of Kuwait implemented a "same business-day" turnaround policy for implementing new UN terrorist financing-related sanctions, which has proven difficult for local bank compliance departments to achieve. Banks are now required to monitor UN sanctions lists proactively as well those made domestically by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

For further information on money laundering and financial crimes, see the 2018 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), Volume II, Money Laundering and Financial Crimes.

Countering Violent Extremism (CVE): In October, the Ministry of Education started implementing an eight-month program to fight "extremist ideologies" at all public schools through teacher training and student counseling programs. As part of the government's National Plan to Reinforce Moderation, the Ministry of Information launched a youth-dedicated TV channel with programming targeting audiences believed to be at higher risk of radicalization to violence. The Ministry of Islamic Affairs started a training program for imams and sent teams to social salons (diwaniyas) to engage attendees and detect the potential presence of radicalizing influencers and recruiters.

The Kuwaiti government founded a dedicated bureau in the Ministry of Information to engage youth on social media platforms. The bureau has established a presence on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and SnapChat.

International and Regional Cooperation: In March, Kuwait hosted and co-chaired the Defeat-ISIS Coalition's Foreign Terrorist Fighters working group. More than 100 counterterrorism experts and diplomats from more than 40 coalition partners participated. Kuwait went on to participate in nine meetings for various working groups of the Coalition in Amman, Berlin, Copenhagen, London, Rome, Vienna, and Washington, D.C., throughout the year. Additionally, Kuwait joined the International Cooperation Review Group meeting in Rome in September to explore ways to stabilize the Syrian city of Raqqa after its liberation from ISIS. Kuwait participated in two meetings for the FATF in Valencia, Spain and Buenos Aires, in addition to hosting a third one in December. In July, the Kuwaiti government announced that it would host an international donor conference for Iraq in early 2018. Kuwait is an active member of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. As a member of the GCC, Kuwait has been playing a lead role in mediating the GCC dispute between Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates over claims of Qatari support to terrorism.