Three sentenced to death in Kuwait over plot to assassinate interior minister
Three people received death sentences and eight others were given five-year prison terms on Monday, October 26, in a Kuwaiti case involving a plot to assassinate Interior Minister Sheikh Fahad Al Yousef, local newspaper Al Rai reported.
Mariam Al Mansoori
Court ruling and defendants
The Criminal Court's State Security and Terrorism Division issued the verdict, with Judge Nasser Al Bader presiding alongside judges Omar Al Mulaifi, Abdullah Al Faleh and Salem Al Zayed. The eight prison sentences were for criminal involvement in the case.
Among those sentenced to death was Hussein Abdallah al-Maatouq, a religious dignitary who serves as secretary-general of the National Islamic Alliance, two judiciary sources told AFP. The sources said all three condemned men belong to Kuwait's Shia Muslim community, which accounts for about a third of the population.
The court's reasoning described an effort to destabilize Kuwait and stir unrest, while weakening public trust in the authorities' capacity to keep people and property safe.
Allegations of foreign contacts and explosives
The prosecution's case included allegations that the defendants communicated with Iran and Hezbollah, the banned Lebanese group, and sought to commit hostile acts against Kuwait. Prosecutors also accused them of planning assassinations of senior state officials and leaders, belonging to a prohibited organization and damaging national interests.
Prosecutors alleged that the defendants tried to use explosives in the operation and to instill fear. Investigators separately accused the 11th defendant of trying to bring in explosives for the group to carry out its plan.
Kuwait banned Hezbollah in 2016 as part of a broader Gulf Cooperation Council move to designate it a terrorist group. Membership, support, financing and any form of cooperation with Hezbollah are criminalized under the ban.
The March arrests
The case began in mid-March 2026, when the Interior Ministry announced that it had detained 14 Kuwaitis and two Lebanese citizens. They were accused of Hezbollah links in connection with an alleged sabotage plot intended to destabilize Kuwait. Raids yielded drones, ammunition and encrypted devices.
Those arrests took place during a regional escalation. Reporting on the detentions, The National said more than 680 drones and missiles had targeted Kuwait since February 28, 2026. The newspaper described the attacks as Iranian retaliation for US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
On March 26, the Interior Ministry announced that it had thwarted a major terrorist plot against senior state figures. Ministry spokesman Brig. Nasser Buslaib said authorities had arrested six suspects: five Kuwaiti nationals and one non-Kuwaiti whose citizenship had been revoked.
Buslaib also said authorities had identified 14 fugitives abroad. They included five Kuwaitis, five people whose citizenship had been revoked, two Iranians and two Lebanese.
