Kuwait suspects deny links to Iran, Hezbollah

More than 20 suspects arrested in connection with a terror case in Kuwait have denied any links to Iran and Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah, saying that they have been tortured.

During a court hearing in Kuwait City on Tuesday, all 23 suspects told the judge that they were subject to beatings and electric shocks during their detention, saying interrogators forced them to sign "prepared confessions” or face death.

In August, Kuwait authorities claimed to have busted a major terror cell and prosecutors charged 24 people with plotting against the state in collaboration with Iran and Hezbollah. They were also charged with possessing arms and munitions.

Iran has vehemently denied any links to the case, calling the entire issue a media hype to harm relations between the two neighbors.

All of the defendants attending the Tuesday hearing said they had been tortured to give false confessions, adding that the traces of beatings and electric shocks have since disappeared. Their lawyers demanded a referral of the defendants to a neutral medical commission to examine the claims.

Regarding charges of possessing weapons, a main suspect in the case, identified as Hassan Abdulhadi Hassan, told the court that the ammunition in his possession dated back to the time of the 1990-91 Iraqi invasion and that he received them from a senior member of the ruling Al-Sabah family.

“I have been hiding these arms on the orders of Sheikh Athbi Al-Sabah. We used these weapons in the resistance against the Iraqi troops," Hassan told the court. Athbi was then a key anti-Iraq leader.

Judge Mohammad al-Duaij refused a request by the lawyer to release the suspects and set September 29 for the next hearing.

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