KUWAIT CITY: A Kuwaiti court on Tuesday charged six men, including a Kuwaiti soldier, and a woman with spying for Iran but the accused denied the charges alleging they had confessed under pressure.
At the opening of the trial of the alleged spy cell, Judge Adel al-Sager read out the charges to the six men who categorically denied them from their metal cage and claimed they were tortured during interrogation.
The only woman in the alleged spy ring, an Iranian, was not present in the court room. Unlike the six men, she is not detained as she had been freed without bail pending trial.
The charges include passing on confidential military information to a foreign nation, taking pictures of Kuwaiti military installations and spying for Iran.
Three of the defendants are Iranian, two are stateless, one is Kuwaiti and the other is Syrian.
Defense lawyer Hassan Al-Matruk alleged that confessions from the men were extracted by torture and called on the judge to order a forensic examination on the defendants.
The alleged cell was busted in May and local newspapers said the defendants were spying for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
Local media also said the men had confessed to monitoring and photographing Kuwaiti and US military sites for the Revolutionary Guards.
Iran has categorically denied the charges.
In Tehran, the foreign ministry said in May that the allegations were aimed at "creating a climate of fear towards Iran," while a Revolutionary Guards official called them "baseless."
