Kuwait orders Iran's ambassador to leave the country within 48 days

Kuwait orders Iran's ambassador to leave the country within 48 days

Arab and international From 2017-07-20 at 17:30 (Baghdad time)

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TEHRAN (Reuters) - Kuwait ordered Iran's ambassador on Thursday to leave the country within 48 days in an escalating row after a court case involving "Iranian parties" in a spy cell, the ISNA news agency reported.
"Under the pressure of Saudi intervention policies and baseless accusations of Iran's intervention, Kuwait has announced that Iranian ambassador to Kuwait Ali Reza Anayati should leave the country within 48 days," the agency said.
Kuwait has ordered Iran to reduce its embassy staff and close technical offices in the country after a case involving "Iranian parties" in a spy network, Kuwait News Agency reported on Thursday.
Kuwait last year convicted a group of Kuwaitis and Iranians of spying for Iran and the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah after discovering a cache of weapons and explosives in a raid on the so-called Abdali cell in 2015.
In a case that triggered unusually intense tension between the two countries, the Supreme Court of Kuwait, Kuwait's highest court, overturned some verdicts handed down last month.
Iranian state television reported that the Kuwaiti foreign ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador and ordered a reduction in the number of diplomats from 19 to four and the closure of cultural and military missions.
The Kuwaiti news agency quoted a Foreign Ministry source as saying that Kuwait had decided to "freeze any activities within the framework of joint committees between the two countries."
Acting Minister of Information Sheikh Mohammad Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah said in a separate statement that the government had decided to take action in line with diplomatic norms and in accordance with the Vienna Conventions in relation to Iran.
Officials at the Iranian embassy could not be reached for comment.
"Kuwait claims that Iran has tried to interfere in the country's internal affairs," state television said.
Kuwait, home to a large Shiite minority, is located in a difficult geographic location near the two most dominant clans of the region, Saudi Arabia and Iran.
It is also trying to play the role of mediator in a wider separate dispute between Qatar and Gulf Arab states that accuse Doha of being an ally of Tehran.
Last month, the Kuwait Court of Cassation overturned the execution of a man linked to the Abdali case.
The court also commuted a life sentence to another man to 15 years and sentenced 10 others, who had said they were not guilty, to 10 years' imprisonment.
Earlier this week, the Interior Ministry said anyone was hiding information about the whereabouts of the men whose new sentences had been issued. He had to contact the authorities or face jail and a fine in an indication that the men were fleeing.
The ministry published photographs of the 16 men and said anyone hiding information about them or helping them escape would face two years' imprisonment and a fine of 1,000 dinars ($ 3305).

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