Kuwaiti court sentences 7 to death over mosque bombing

A Kuwaiti court sentenced seven people to death on Tuesday for a suicide bombing at a Shia mosque that killed 27 people in June, state media reported.

Another eight defendants received prison terms ranging from two to 15 years, while 14 others were acquitted by Judge Mohammad Al-Duaij in his verdict, the state-run KUNA news agency reported.

Defense lawyers for those convicted could not be immediately reached for comment. Typically, those sentenced to death can appeal.

The June 26 bombing during Friday prayers inside one of Kuwait's oldest Shia mosques, carried out by a Saudi citizen identified as Fahad Suleiman Abdulmohsen al-Gabbaa, shocked the normally peaceful oil-rich nation. The blast at the Imam Sadiq Mosque, which also wounded 227 people, was the first major attack in Kuwait in more than two decades.

After the blast, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attack. ISIL, which holds a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria in its self-declared “caliphate,” views Shia Muslims as heretics and has attacked their mosques in other countries across the Middle East.

Executions remain rare in Kuwait, though it hanged five convicted criminals in 2013, according to Amnesty International. Kuwait carried out no executions in 2014, the rights group said.

For decades, Kuwait has been among the safest and quietest corners of the Middle East, with Sunni and Shia Muslims living alongside each other in relative peace. It suffered an invasion by former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in the first Gulf War, but traditionally has not faced attacks.

The last major attack there was in 1983, when Iranian-backed Shia fighters from Iraq carried out bombings that killed at least five people and targeted Western embassies.

The Associated Press