Kuwait sentences 3 to death over deputy PM plot, sources say

Two judiciary sources told AFP that a criminal court in Kuwait sentenced three men to death on Monday over an alleged plot to assassinate the deputy prime minister and interior minister.

The sources said the men were also accused of undermining national interests, collaborating with Iran and membership of Hezbollah, which Kuwait classifies as a terrorist group.

Huseein Abdallah al-Maatouq, a religious dignitary and secretary-general of the National Islamic Alliance, was among the three condemned, the sources said. They said another of the three had been convicted of terrorism in 2016 before being pardoned by Kuwait's emir, and was arrested again in April.

The sources said all three men are from Kuwait's Shia Muslim community, which makes up about a third of the country's population.

The court also sentenced 11 other people connected to the case to five years of hard labour, the sources said.