Court of Appeal: 7-year military prison sentence and 1.8 million KD fine for Syrian national for forging Kuwaiti citizenship

The Court of Appeal, presided over by Senior Judge Abdullah Al-Sanea and with Senior Judges Saud Al-Mutairi and Bassam Al-Ghuwainim as members, sentenced a Syrian national to seven years in prison for forging Kuwaiti citizenship, ordered him to repay 600,000 Kuwaiti dinars, and imposed a fine equal to double that amount. The case involved the Syrian’s false attribution to a Kuwaiti citizen who died in 1971, after the Syrian’s father had agreed with the deceased citizen’s family to register the son in the deceased’s citizenship file in exchange for a financial payment. The Syrian unlawfully assumed the status and benefits of Kuwaiti citizenship, serving as a military officer in the Ministry of Defense. His Syrian brothers filed a complaint against him following a dispute, leading to his arrest by the Citizenship Investigation Department. The defendant confessed in detail to the crime, acknowledging that he had been aware of the arrangement since 2000. The case was referred to the court, which today issued a final appellate judgment.