Kuwait shutters Shiite TV over owners ties to terror group

KUWAIT CITY – Kuwait has shuttered a private Shiite satellite television channel, saying one of its owners was involved in a terror group linked with Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

The official Kuwait News Agency reported on Thursday that Al Kout TV’s broadcast licenses were revoked.

The agency says one of the station’s owners, Bassel Dashti, was sentenced to five years earlier this month on charges of “contributing to bringing weapons and receiving illegal training.”

A criminal and an appeals court had found Dashti not guilty but Kuwait’s supreme court overturned those rulings and handed down the five-year sentence. He remains at large.

The group that Dashti was allegedly involved in was known as the al-Abdali cell and included 26 people. Kuwait in August 2015 announced it broke up the group.