Kuwait – A Kuwaiti appeal court upheld the death sentence of a man convicted of spying for Iran as part of al-Abdali cell which Kuwait said was trying to destabilize the State on behalf of Tehran.

Abdali cell was uncovered on August 13, 2015 when security forces raided a farmhouse in Abdali outside of Kuwait City and its members were accused of possession of guns and of having the intent to carry hostile acts against Kuwait.

The weapons cache Kuwait’s security forces uncovered included Kalashnikov rifles, submachine guns, grenades, 144 kg of explosives, and 19 tons of ammunition.

While fifteen other members were found not guilty in the case of espionage for Iran and the so-called Lebanese Hezbollah, they were still convicted with the possession of weapons and receiving weapons’ trainings in Lebanon.

The convicts didn’t attend the session during which the sentence of 12 other accused defendants was reduced from 15 years in prison for 5 to 2 years. While four convicts were fined instead of receiving prison sentences.

Kuwait convict Hasan Abdul Hadi Hajiya was sentenced to death in January. An Iranian citizen who is a member of the cell was sentenced to death in absentia by a lower court, but the appeals court didn’t look into it because the convict must be present for the verdict.

Hajiya, the primary defendant in the case, owns the Abdali farmhouses where the weapons were found. The prosecution said he smuggled the weapons by sea from Iran.