KUWAIT: 2005 ANNUAL TERRORISM REPORT DRAFT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 005133

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR S/CT AND NEA/ARPI

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER ASEC KCRM EFIN KHLS KPAO KU TERRORISM
SUBJECT: KUWAIT: 2005 ANNUAL TERRORISM REPORT DRAFT

REF: STATE


1. (U) Embassy Kuwait's submission for the 2005 Terrorism
Report is provided below. The text will also be submitted
electronically as instructed in reftel. Addendum information
will be provided septel. Post contact is Political Officer
Andrea F. Gastaldo who can be reached at
GastaldoAF2@state.gov.


2. (U) Begin text:
Kuwait continued to engage with the U.S. Government and with
its neighbors to thwart domestic threats to Kuwait and
foreign interests. It also continued to provide support to
U.S. efforts to stem terror financing. Following four
separate police actions against terrorists in January 2005 --
which resulted in the deaths of four police officers and
eight terrorists -- the Government of Kuwait strengthened
domestic counterterrrorism efforts, but the potential for
future attacks remains a serious concern. While the
Government of Kuwait is a strong ally of the U.S. and
verbally supportive of U.S. counterterrorism efforts in
Kuwait, the Government is reluctant to confront extremist
elements within the local population and continues to temper
its measures against terrorists with long-time practices of
co-optation to maintain domestic stability.

The Kuwaiti Government has taken measures to bolster security
and enhance protection for Coalition Forces transiting
Kuwait. Kuwait State Security (KSS) has worked to identify
and arrest terror suspects and thirty-seven defendants are
standing trial for terrorist activities stemming from
January's police actions. The Public Prosecutor claims that
insufficient and incomplete evidence has hampered the
conviction of many suspected terrorists in the past. Twenty
of the 37 defendants are facing the death penalty if
convicted of terrorism charges but eleven of them are
fugitives, their whereabouts unknown. In a separate case,
the May 2005 trial of "Jihadists in Iraq" resulted in
convictions of 22 men; their three-year jail sentences are
being appealed on the grounds that they are "too harsh." The
22 were convicted of recruiting juveniles to fight U.S.
forces in Iraq and collecting money to send to insurgents in
Iraq. Others sentenced to jail for recruiting, supporting,
or being a terrorist have often had their sentences suspended
or commuted to a nominal fine. Kuwaiti law lacks strong
provisions to deal effectively with those engaged in
conspiracy to commit terrorist acts and in the past, there
have been instances of individuals involved in terrorist
cells receiving relatively light sentences for involvement in
acts of violence.

As part of its campaign against terror, the Kuwaiti
Government re-enacted search laws to allow for police entry
into private homes and vehicles in order to search for
weapons. The search law was first passed in 1991 directly
after the first Gulf War but had not been used since 1994.
In addition, in November the Government of Kuwait increased
the penalties for illegal ownership of weapons, increasing
the penalty for light firearms from five to ten years, and
for automatic firearms from seven to fifteen years in jail.
The GOK has also instituted more elaborate camera
surveillance of borders and critical infrastructure.

A ministerial committee formed in October 2004 and chaired by
the Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs to develop
strategies to combat terror and extremists began holding
conferences in the Spring 2005 to promote moderation and
tolerance in youth. The Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic
Affairs also worked with the Ministry of Information to shut
down some "weblogs" which encouraged extremist ideology and
is working on a long-term plan to combat terrorism and
extremist ideology through an outreach program targeting
Kuwaiti youth. The Islamic bloc has continued to be critical
of the Government's methods in confronting and dealing with
extremists and some Members of Parliament stated that the
police actions of January should have dealt with the
terrorists via an approach based on Islamic reasoning and
re-education rather than through violent confrontation.

Following the December 6, 2004 attack on U.S. Consulate
General Jeddah, the Government of Kuwait augmented security
around U.S. installations in Kuwait. In addition, Kuwait
responded quickly to U.S. concerns about a possible terror
attack in January 2005, reviewing security and initiating a
search for the individuals believed to be the source of the
threats. Kuwaiti officials have also heightened security
along their border with Iraq and signed a security pact with
the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior in December 2005 to
prevent militant infiltration and terrorist transnational
movement. The Kuwaiti Government regularly patrols its
waterways for smugglers and illegal immigrants and routinely

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deports them back to their countries of origin.

The Kuwaiti Government has also begun a DNA database sampling
of all of its residents. Currently, the Government has used
its prison population as its baseline and has DNA samples and
dental records of all of its prisoners, both male and female.
In addition, it is recording fingerprint records for all
third-country nationals who apply for a residency permit.
The Ministry of Interior's Crime Lab expects the process to
take two to three years to be completed.

Earlier this year Kuwait implemented terrorist fund freezes
in accordance with U.N. designations. In the spring, the
Government froze the assets of Mohsen Al-Fadhli, a known
Kuwaiti terrorist who is a fugitive from justice, after
receiving the UN directive which put Al-Fadhli on its terror
finance watchlist. As part of its broader CT efforts
focusing on combating the financing of terrorism and
anti-money laundering (CTF/AML),the Government of Kuwait
established a ministerial committee to revise and strengthen
the country's existing anti-money laundering law with the
objective of criminalizing terrorism finance and
strengthening internal policies and procedures. The revised
legislation is expected to be finalized for review and
approval by the Council of Ministers (cabinet) and the
National Assembly in 2006. In addition, Kuwait Customs, in
conjunction with U.S. Customs, held a four-day conference in
December 2005 on anti-terror financing in Kuwait. Over 130
participants from all over Kuwait received training on how to
identify and stop the flow of terror financing in their
financial institutions and elsewhere. Nevertheless, Kuwaiti
government efforts to stem the flow of private donations from
Kuwait to jihadists in Iraq have been inadequate. There is
no effective enforcement of laws governing the transfer and
physical transport of currency into Kuwait and the country
has no cash exit declaration policy.

In early 2005, several members of the Kuwait Armed Forces
were implicated in an alleged plot against a U.S. camp in
Kuwait. Subsequently, the Kuwait Armed Forces began
developing internal programs designed to reduce the threat of
extremism in its ranks.

Kuwait is party to eleven of the twelve international
conventions and protocols relating to terrorism. Kuwait has
signed but has not yet ratified the 1999 Convention for the
Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism.

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