A Kuwaiti court on June 25, 2026, sentenced three men to six months in prison with hard labor for their roles in a violent public brawl that began as a traffic dispute near the Sulaibikhat shopping mall, Al-Seyassah daily reported. The Ordinary Misdemeanor Circuit at the First Instance Court acquitted two other defendants in the same case after reviewing evidence that showed they played no part in the assault. The ruling stems from an incident in which an initial argument over traffic escalated from verbal exchanges to physical violence once the parties left the mall.
Al-Seyassah daily reported that Interior Ministry investigations, supported by CCTV footage from the scene, established how three of the defendants arrived after the complainants had exited the shopping mall, waited for them and then carried out the attack. The Criminal Investigation Department determined that the complainants had not initiated the confrontation, a finding that proved central to both the convictions and the acquittals. The daily’s account drew directly from the court file and the ministry’s assessment of the recorded evidence.
Defense attorney Abdulmohsen Al-Qattan stated that the acquittals for his clients rested on the contents of the case file, the ministry’s investigations and the CCTV footage that demonstrated no involvement in the brawl. Al-Qattan’s argument, presented during proceedings, emphasized the clarity of the visual record in separating the actions of the convicted trio from those who were cleared. The First Instance Court accepted this position for two of the five men originally charged.
Kuwait’s Interior Ministry figures show that traffic accidents claimed 296 lives across the country in 2023, a statistic that underscores the persistent challenges of road safety and the potential for minor disputes to turn violent. A separate study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health placed annual road traffic deaths near 450, with non-Kuwaitis facing rates four times higher than citizens. These broader patterns provide context for the ministry’s continued focus on both enforcement and investigation of incidents that begin on the roads.
The Sulaibikhat mall incident followed a familiar sequence in which a traffic argument moved quickly from words to physical confrontation, according to the ministry’s reconstruction detailed by Al-Seyassah daily. Once the initial parties left the mall, the three convicted men positioned themselves and launched the assault that led to the charges of public brawl. The daily noted that the court’s decision balanced the evidence from multiple sources to reach its verdicts on each defendant.
Al-Seyassah daily indicated that the six-month hard labor sentences apply specifically to the three men identified by investigators and footage as the aggressors in the mall-area clash. The acquittals for the remaining pair reflect the judiciary’s reliance on concrete visual and investigative records rather than assumptions about group involvement. The case highlights the role of CCTV and prompt ministry inquiries in resolving such rapidly escalating roadside conflicts.
