Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 25

Summary: - The offence of organizing prohibited groups and entities. Article 30 of Law No. 31 of 1970 amending certain provisions of the Penal Code. Its nature, its material element, and participation therein. - Its establishment is determined by the purpose prescribed in Article 30 of Law No. 31 of 1970 amending certain provisions of the Penal Code. - The nature of criminal intent in the offence of organizing prohibited groups and entities. Its assessment and the existence of contribution and participation. Matters of fact. The limit thereof. - The objection that no decisions were issued by the relevant authorities prohibiting the organization called the Islamic State organization. Unsound. Rule: The provision in Article 30 of Law No. 31 of 1971 amending certain provisions of Penal Code No. 16 of 1960 that: (Associations, groups, or bodies whose purpose is to work to disseminate principles aimed at overthrowing the fundamental systems by unlawful means or at forcibly revolting against the social or economic system existing in the country are prohibited. Organizers and those calling for others to join the aforementioned bodies shall be punished by imprisonment for a term not exceeding 15 years. Anyone who participates in these bodies knowing the purpose for which they work shall be punished by imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years.) indicates that the material element of the offence of organizing and participating in those prohibited entities is established by any activity, whatever its kind or extent, through which the perpetrator contributes to an undertaking characterized by a degree of organization, whatever its form—association, group, or body—and whatever its name, with the aim of achieving a purpose prescribed in this Article. The determining factor in the existence of these associations, groups, or bodies, their unlawfulness, and their being considered prohibited is not the issuance of decisions or a declaration considering them as such. Rather, the determining factor is the purpose they seek among those referred to in the aforementioned Article 30 and the means they adopt to attain their objective. Criminal intent therein is established by the perpetrator’s knowledge of the undertaking and its purpose and by his will being directed toward achieving that purpose, even if it is not actually achieved. Assessment of the existence or absence of contribution to organizing and participating in those prohibited entities and knowledge of their purpose lies exclusively with the trial court, according to what it infers from the circumstances surrounding the case and its elements, provided that the implications of those circumstances and elements are not rationally inconsistent with that inference. What the challenged judgment stated in setting out the facts of the case and the evidence establishing guilt therein in the foregoing context, and in responding to the appellants’ defence, establishes all the legal elements of the offence charged against them of joining a prohibited group and calling for others to join it. Accordingly, their objection concerning the absence of decisions by the relevant authorities prohibiting the organization called the Islamic State is unsound.