Three convicted killers hanged at the gallows -- First executions in Kuwait since 2007

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• published: 02 Apr 2013
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KUWAIT: Authorities yesterday hanged three convicted murderers in the first executions in the state since May 2007. The men, a Pakistani, a Saudi and a bedoon (stateless Arab), were hanged at the Central Jail in Sulaibiya in front of judicial and security officials and journalists. Hangings were previously carried out at Nayef Palace in Kuwait City. Pakistani Parvez Ahmed Ghulam Rasool was convicted of strangling a couple -- Khalid Bashir Ahmad and his wife Remedios Bajulaiye -- to death in 2006, while Saudi Faisal Dhawi Al-Otaibi stabbed a compatriot Khalid Reja Al-Thafiri to death in 2006. The bedoon Thaher Marzouq Al-Otaibi was hanged for shooting and killing his wife Badriya Khalid Dahash and his son and daughter after claiming he was a long-awaited imam. He also attempted to kill another daughter but she managed to flee. Public attorney Mohammad Al-Duaij, who supervised the executions, said another 48 people are on death row awaiting a final decision on their sentences by HH the Amir. Under Kuwaiti law, the Amir has the right to commute death sentences to a life term. "We have begun executing death sentences as criminality and brutality have increased in our community, and the court issues sentences for serious crimes on a daily basis. These executions should eliminate the increasing number of crimes and be a deterrent," he said. None of the family members of the executed men or their victims' families attended the hangings. "(The bedoon) Thaher met his brother in prison last night, but the rest of his family didn't visit him. The other two men also didn't receive any visits from their families," Duaij added. The convicts were transferred by special vehicles to the yard of the prison in brown clothing, blindfolded and their hands secured. One of them was smoking his last cigarette. The Saudi convict called out to his mother before saying the shahadah (declaration of faith). According to sources from the Ministry of Interior, Saudi officials tried to negotiate with the family of the victim to forgive the killer in return for blood money, but the victim's father refused. Kuwait had six years ago stopped executing convicts sentenced to death without providing an explanation. Among those on death row are two members of the Al-Sabah ruling family convicted over drugs trafficking and murder, and a woman who set a wedding tent ablaze in 2009 killing 57 people. Kuwait has executed a total of 69 men and three foreign women since it introduced the death penalty in mid-1960. Most of those condemned have been convicted murderers or drug traffickers