Kuwait
Kuwait’s Criminal Court, through its division responsible for state security cases, has sentenced Ayatollah Sheikh Hussein Abdullah Al-Matouq, a prominent Shiite scholar, member of the Supreme Council of the World Ahlulbayt Assembly, and former Secretary-General of Kuwait’s Islamic National Alliance, to death.
The ruling also includes Hassan Abdulhadi Hajiya and Abdulredha Haidar Dehghani, all three of whom were convicted on charges of espionage on behalf of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
This is reportedly the first death sentence of its kind in Kuwait against a Shiite religious scholar of such high religious and social standing, marking an unprecedented escalation in the targeting of Shiite clerics in the country.
At the regional level, a significant precedent was the execution of prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia in 2016, which triggered widespread condemnation, including from religious figures in Kuwait, among them Sheikh Al-Matouq himself.
Observers argue that this ruling represents one of the most serious forms of persecution directed against the Shiite community in the region, particularly as it follows earlier measures against Ayatollah Al-Matouq.
Notably, several months ago, the Emir of Kuwait revoked Ayatollah Al-Matouq’s Kuwaiti citizenship, a decision that further intensified concerns surrounding his treatment.
Critics following the case have described the accusations against the three defendants as “baseless.”