Kuwait court upholds one death sentence in mosque bombing

KUWAIT (Reuters) - A Kuwaiti appeals court upheld one death sentence and overturned another in the case of an Islamist suicide bombing at a mosque in June, Kuwaiti newspaper al-Qabas reported on Sunday. A criminal court in September had sentenced seven defendants to death in the case. Eight other suspects had been given prison sentences ranging from two to 15 years. Fourteen other defendants were acquitted at the time. The status of the five other defendants sentenced to death in September was not clear. Al-Qabas said the court had stopped looking into their appeals, without elaborating. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the June 26 bombing, when a Saudi suicide bomber blew himself inside the Imam al-Sadeq mosque in Kuwait City, killing 27 people. Hundreds of Shi'ite Muslims were performing Friday noon prayers when the bomb went off. Kuwait cracked down on Islamist militants after the bombing, the country's worst militant attack. Officials say the bombing was aimed at stoking strife between Sunnis and Shi'ites in the majority Sunni state, where the two sects have usually coexisted in peace. (Reporting by Ahmed Hagagy; Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Domnic Evans and Jane Merriman)