Country Reports on Terrorism 2016 - Kuwait

Overview: The Kuwaiti government disrupted several terrorist plots in 2016 and expanded its efforts to counter violent extremism. It also expanded its capacity to counter the financing of terrorism, imposing additional scrutiny on charitable organizations' financial transactions. ISIS accounted for the primary threat, inspiring two lone-offender attacks, one against Kuwaiti police officers and another against U.S. military service members. In both cases, the attackers used a moving vehicle as a weapon, without employing other weapons or explosives. Al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) posed a secondary threat. A member of the Small Group of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, Kuwait continued to support Coalition forces deployed in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, and was also a leader in the Defeat-ISIS Coalition's humanitarian assistance line of effort. Kuwait co-leads the Coalition's Foreign Terrorist Fighter working group. On October 21, Kuwait co-chaired the first bilateral Strategic Dialogue with the United States, in which both sides pledged to bolster their security partnership by countering terrorism and terrorist financing, particularly through enhanced information sharing.

2016 Terrorist Incidents: Kuwait experienced two terrorist incidents:

• On February 25, a 21-year-old Kuwaiti national ran over five police officers, killing one officer and injuring the rest. News media reported the attacker had confessed to planning to participate in "jihad" in Syria; official reports described him as under psychiatric evaluation.

• On October 6, a 28-year-old Egyptian expatriate worker deliberately rammed a large flatbed construction vehicle into a smaller pick-up vehicle carrying three U.S. military service members. None of the U.S. personnel were injured.

Legislation, Law Enforcement, and Border Security: While Kuwait did not have a comprehensive counterterrorism legal framework, it continued to prosecute crimes involving terrorism under its general criminal law (law #31 of 1970), and also prosecuted crimes involving both terrorism and the use of explosives under law #35 of 1985. Although law #106 of 2013 was introduced as anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) legislation, Kuwaiti officials observed that it contained articles that could be – and subsequently were – used by courts to prosecute terrorist attacks without a terrorist-financing component.

In March, Kuwait – along with other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – designated Hizballah as a terrorist organization.

In July, a member of the National Assembly (the parliament) presented a bill to criminalize "any acts of support or affiliation with terrorist organizations," with an emphasis on ISIS. The draft calls for prison terms ranging from 10 to 20 years for convicted defendants. Other members of Parliament suggested adding Hizballah and the Iraqi Dawa Party to the list of terrorist organizations included in the draft legislation. The National Assembly did not pass the bill.

The Ministry of Interior (MOI) held primary responsibility for terrorist incident reporting and response. MOI elements responsible for criminal investigations, national security, border security, and electronic security demonstrated the capacity to detect, deter, and respond to terrorist incidents. The MOI's semi-autonomous arm, Kuwait State Security, handled some aspects of terrorism-related investigations. In general, law enforcement units investigated citizen complaints regarding human rights violations and took disciplinary action against personnel involved. There were some allegations that investigations were insufficient in some cases involving torture accusations. Terrorist incidents with a military dimension or those taking place in Kuwaiti waters, fell under the purview of the Ministry of Defense. Kuwaiti officials confirmed the existence of specific plans to prevent and respond to terrorist attacks against soft targets, such as major hotels, stadiums, tourist resorts, and cultural sites. Most of those locations already maintained a visible police presence in the form of stationary security points and patrols.

In 2016, the government stopped several attempts by foreign nationals to enter illegally. In August, for example, the authorities intercepted and arrested 10 Iranian nationals attempting to enter Kuwaiti waters illegally aboard a ship. Kuwait employed biometric systems at all ports of entry, checking the identity of travelers against its own terrorist-screening database. The government launched a major effort aimed at bringing the security of Kuwait International Airport up to internationally-recognized standards.

In January, a criminal court sentenced to death two of the 26 suspects accused of amassing, on behalf of Iran and Hizballah, a large cache of ammunition, weapons, and explosives at a farm near the Iraqi border, which the authorities raided in August 2015. It also handed down prison sentences ranging up to 20 years to 12 defendants and acquitted 12 others.

In March, following the collective GCC designation of Hizballah as a terrorist organization, the authorities terminated the residencies of an unspecified number of Iraqi, Lebanese, and Syrian expatriates (reported in the media to number around 1,100) for suspected affiliation with Hizballah. Enforcement measures included immediate deportation, orders to depart Kuwait within a grace period, denial of visa-renewal requests, and denial of admission at the port of entry.

In May, the Supreme Court upheld a lower-court death sentence against the primary defendant in the June 2015 bombing of the Imam Sadeq mosque. In July, the Appeals Court upheld three of the jail verdicts against other defendants in the same case, commuting 11 additional verdicts to shorter jail sentences or fines and acquitting the remaining 12 defendants.

In July, the authorities announced the disruption of three ISIS cells planning to attack a Shia mosque and several police stations. One of the cases reportedly involved two Kuwaiti-national foreign terrorist fighters, a mother and a son, who were lured back to Kuwait from Syria by the authorities.

In August, a judge who had issued death sentences to defendants in the 2015 Imam Sadeq mosque bombing case received anonymous death threats, and the Supreme Court building, likewise, received anonymous bomb threats. In response, the authorities made several arrests, increased security protection for the judge, and heightened security precautions around the building.

Also in August, security forces arrested a Philippines national for pledging allegiance to ISIS, after she confessed to entering Kuwait under the pretense of working as a domestic employee to attack targets of opportunity. In late August, the Public Prosecutor detained a Kuwaiti computer hacker for recruiting youths to join ISIS. Charges against him included traveling abroad to fight a foreign government.

In October, Kuwaiti security forces detained an Egyptian national who rammed a truck carrying explosives and ISIS-related paraphernalia into a car carrying five U.S. military personnel. At year's end, the subject remained in custody on terrorism charges and faces up to life in prison.

In November, the Appeals Court sentenced a Kuwaiti to seven years in jail for "embracing the ideas and methodology of ISIS and encouraging others to join the group." This was the first time a Kuwaiti court specifically penalized ideological affiliation with a terrorist organization – uncoupled from an act of terrorism – and specifically flagged recruitment as a criminal offense.

In December, the Criminal Court sentenced a Kuwaiti foreign terrorist fighter to five years in jail for joining ISIS in Syria. The subject confessed to having assisted ISIS by using his engineering expertise to market oil extracted from wells under its control.

Kuwaiti officials stressed that the absence of a systematic mechanism for terrorist watchlisting and information sharing with other GCC members hampered efforts to detect and arrest foreign terrorist fighters before they arrived in the country.

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-style regional body, and the Coalition's Counter-ISIS Finance Group. The Government of Kuwait took important steps to build its countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) capacity and oversaw CFT through a cabinet-level committee chaired by the Minister of Foreign Affairs (MFA) representing 11 ministries and agencies. The Kuwaiti government empowered the Public Prosecution Office to handle CFT cases; developed its financial intelligence unit, the Kuwait Financial Investigations Unit (KwFIU); and intensified charity supervision through the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MOSAL) and the MFA. Although the Government of Kuwait has recently taken these steps and other important capacity-building efforts to address terrorist financing deficiencies, a number of UN-designated terrorist financiers continued to operate in Kuwait.

The KwFIU continued its progress towards joining the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units; its on-site inspection for Egmont Group membership took place in December 2016, following up on a 2014 application for membership.

In 2016, the Appeals Court upheld sentences against an Australian national, four non-Kuwaiti Arabs, and three Kuwaitis for illegally raising funds and recruiting enlistees on behalf of a terrorist organization. The verdicts included prison sentences for the defendants, asset freezes for a Kuwait-based export-import company – which was allegedly used as a front for the defendants' illicit financial dealings – and confiscation of the defendants' personal assets.

MOSAL took steps to regulate and monitor charitable fund-raising, including closing two domestic charities for non-compliance and illegal fundraising on behalf of foreign beneficiaries. In addition, all fundraising campaigns intended for foreign beneficiaries require pre-approval from the MFA. The MOI is responsible for responding to violations.

During Ramadan, MOSAL only allowed charitable donations to be collected via debit card or electronic funds transfer transactions, as opposed to cash donations, to enable financial authorities to monitor fund transfers and prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. Simultaneously, the Central Bank of Kuwait publicly announced those licensed charities permitted to accept donations via bank transfers and MOSAL closed eight unlicensed organizations during Ramadan for collecting donations without prior authorization.

For further information on money laundering and financial crimes, see the 2017 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), Volume II, Money Laundering and Financial Crimes: http://www.state.gov/j/inl/rls/nrcrpt/index.htm.

Countering Violent Extremism: The government was in the final phase of preparing a "national plan to reinforce moderation," a collaborative effort among the MOI, MOSAL, and ministries of information, education, Islamic affairs, and youth. Pending approval by the Council of Ministers (the cabinet), the plan would implement 48 specific initiatives aimed at constraining radicalization and reinforcing national security. These interagency initiatives, the first of their kind, included measures addressing drug abuse, forming youth clubs to promote tolerant interpretations of Islamic teachings, and encouraging citizens and expatriates alike to recognize and report early signs of radicalization in children and adolescents. The Minister of Justice and the Minister of Awqaf and Islamic affairs continued to warn imams to keep their sermons consistent with the general law on political speech and avoid discussing political issues during their sermons or at any other time while in the country.

Kuwaiti officials acknowledged that connecting with youth via new social media platforms was the biggest challenge to their efforts to spread tolerance and fight radicalization to violence. To address this, the government started a joint research effort with the media department of Kuwait University to detect early signs of youth radicalization on social media.

International and Regional Cooperation: Kuwait participated in counterterrorism efforts in a number of international fora, particularly the GCC. It supported broad global counterterrorism aims in co-hosting (along with Canada, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States) the July 20 Pledging Conference in Support of Iraq's Stabilization in Washington, DC. A member of both the Global Counterterrorism Forum and the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism and Proliferation, Kuwait participated in several security initiatives and attended a number of counterterrorism-themed international meetings in 2016.