MIES, Switzerland - FIBA on Friday announced the suspension of the Kuwait Basketball Association because of political interference.

FIBA - together with the IOC and a number of other international federations - consider that the sport legislation enacted by the Government of Kuwait seriously infringes the autonomy of the Olympic and the Sport Movement in Kuwait and thus directly interferes in the affairs of one of FIBA's 215 member national federations.

Several official meetings took place over the past few months between the Olympic movement and the Government of Kuwait in an attempt to find a solution on this institutional matter which would require several important amendments to the Kuwaiti sports legislation. However, no positive outcome was reached and consequently the IOC announced on Tuesday 27 October the suspension of the Kuwait Olympic Committee.

After an assessment of the situation, FIBA's Executive Committee has decided to suspend today with immediate effect the Kuwait Basketball Association until the matter is resolved and the sports legislation has been amended accordingly so as to allow the national federation and its member clubs to function independently and in accordance with the General Statutes of FIBA.

The Kuwait Basketball Association indicated its support of FIBA's and the Kuwait Olympic Committee's efforts to protect the autonomy of the sport movement in Kuwait.

As a consequence of the suspension, Kuwaiti teams and officials may no longer participate in official FIBA competitions or activities.

The Kuwait national team and accompanying officials currently taking part in the 2015 FIBA Asia U16 Championship in Jakarta, Indonesia are not affected by this decision. However, while the team may continue its participation in the event, it may not qualify for the 2016 FIBA U17 World Championship as long as the suspension is in place.

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FIBA (fiba.com) - the world governing body for basketball - is an independent association formed by 215 National Basketball Federations throughout the world. It is recognised as the sole competent authority in basketball by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

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