Kuwaiti Court Sentences Egyptian Behind Attack on American Forces to Life Imprisonment

A court in Kuwait sentenced a self-proclaimed member of the Islamic State group, ISIS, to life imprisonment on Sunday for an attack last October on American forces in the country. Ibrahim Suleiman, a 28-year-old Egyptian citizen, had directed his vehicle towards a car carrying several American soldiers in mid-October 2016. In this incident, which Kuwaiti officials referred to as a 'failed suicide attack' and the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait described as 'terroristic', none of the American soldiers were harmed, but the Egyptian driver was injured due to the vehicle's combustion after the collision. According to a report by Agence France-Presse, Egyptian officials stated that police found a handwritten note indicating this Egyptian citizen's allegiance to ISIS during the investigation of the incident, and suspicious explosive devices were discovered in his vehicle. The sentence issued for this Egyptian citizen is not yet final, and there is a possibility of appeal in the Kuwaiti Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the Kuwaiti Supreme Court on Sunday upheld a 20-year prison sentence for Fahd Farraj, the unofficial leader of ISIS in the country. Reports indicate that Fahd Farraj is the leader of an eight-member ISIS cell that has been tried in Kuwait. The other seven members of this cell, five of whom are Kuwaiti citizens, received sentences ranging from 10 to 15 years, which have also been upheld by the Kuwaiti Supreme Court. Agence France-Presse noted that three other members of this cell have no nationality. These eight individuals were tried for fighting for ISIS in Syria and Iraq and for raising funds for the group. The report also recalled that two years ago, in June 2015, in an attack that was the worst in Kuwait's history, a suicide bomber linked to ISIS detonated himself in a Shia mosque in the country, leaving 26 dead. This report adds that Kuwaiti courts have so far issued heavy sentences for dozens accused of joining or sympathizing with ISIS.