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Arabia

Kuwaiti court reopens trial of 36 Qaeda suspects

2006-09-19

KUWAIT CITY - The Kuwaiti appeals court on Monday reopened the trial of 36 alleged Al Qaeda militants who fought bloody gunbattles with police last year. The court had been expected to issue verdicts against the suspects, six of whom were condemned to death by the lower court in December, but presiding judge Ibrahim Al Obeid allowed lawyers to file arguments. The lawyers alleged investigations conducted by the public prosecution were illegal and should be scrapped by the court, and one of them even called on the judge to reject rulings by the lower court. The judge in May referred the case to the constitutional court to decide whether the conspiracy to commit a criminal act under Kuwaiti law applied to the defendants in the case. The court ruled in July that an article of the penal code was in line with the constitution and asked the appeals court to continue with the trial. "Get on with it and stop stalling!" Judge Obeid on Monday agreed to a request by lawyers to summon the investigating officer in the case for cross-examination. The defendants are accused of being members of the Al Qaeda-linked ‘Peninsula Lions Brigades’ that was allegedly behind deadly gunfights.

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Arabia

Suspected Al Qaeda militant arrested in Kuwait

2006-08-23

KUWAIT CITY - Kuwaiti security forces have arrested a suspected Islamist militant who had been sentenced in absentia on charges of affiliation to a group linked to Al-Qaeda and involved in clashes with police, newspapers reported on Tuesday. Hamad Nawaf al-Harbi, one of eight of the 37-member group who remained at large, was arrested Monday in Al-Farwaniya, five kilometers (three miles) south of Kuwait City, they quoted an interior ministry statement as saying. “The questioning of Harbi should lead to the arrest of the seven others” still on the run, the statement said. Harbi was one of 10 members of the “Peninsula Lions Brigades” who were sentenced in absentia last December. He was handed a seven-year jail term and was considered the third most wanted fugitive in the case. Thirty-seven suspected militants were tried on charges of membership in the group, which was behind deadly gunfights with police in January 2005. Eight militants were killed in the clashes along with four police officers and two civilians.

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Arabia

Kuwait sentences 'al-Qaeda' group: 6 to Hang, 30 to Prison, 7 Walk

2005-12-27

Six suspected militants from a group linked to al-Qaeda have been sentenced to death by a court in Kuwait. The six were handed the sentence for their role in clashes with police in January which left several people dead. The court jailed some of the other alleged members of the group of more than 30, while seven were acquitted. Dozens of suspected Islamists opposed to the US presence in Kuwait have been held in 2005 and accused of planning attacks on western targets. Prosecutors had demanded the death penalty for more suspected militants of the group - which calls itself the Peninsula Lions Brigade - for several shootouts with police in January. They had also said the group plotted to stage suicide attacks in Kuwait and planned a coup. Defence lawyers have said their clients were forced to make confessions after being tortured. Some 20 alleged members of the group - mostly Kuwaiti nationals - received jail terms of between four months and 15 years, while one was sentenced to life in prison. Among those on trial were several foreign nationals. The verdict was read out in the absence of all the accused, with lawyers and reporters being the only people present in the court, according to the AFP news agency. Kuwait is a major oil producer and US ally in the Gulf. A military base in the territory serves as a logistics centre for US troops operating in neighbouring Iraq. "You have been tried by twelve good men and true, not of your peers but as high above you as heaven is of hell, and they have said you are guilty. Time will pass and seasons will come and go. Spring with its wavin’ green grass and heaps of sweet-smellin’ flowers on every hill and in every dale. Then sultry Summer, with her shimmerin’ heat-waves on the baked horizon. And Fall, with her yeller harvest moon and the hills growin’ brown and golden under a sinkin’ sun. And finally Winter, with its bitin’, whinin’ wind, and all the land will be mantled with snow. But you won’t be here to see any of ‘em; not by a damn sight, because it’s the order of this court that you be took to the nearest tree and hanged by the neck til you’re dead, dead, dead, you olive-colored son of a bitch." -- attributed to Judge Roy Bean

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Arabia

Kuwait prosecution demands death penalty for 34 militants

2005-06-12

KUWAIT CITY - Kuwait's public prosecutor demanded Saturday the death penalty for 34 of 37 militants suspected of links to Al Qaeda and deadly clashes with police in January as their trial resumed here. The request for the death sentences against 34 militants, including a woman, came in the charge sheet. Most excellent. The charges include joining an illegal extremist group, the Peninsula Lions Brigade, reportedly linked with the Saudi Al-Haramain Brigades and Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network. They are also charged with carrying out terrorist acts, participating in the killing of several policemen and plotting to attack US forces and citizens in the oil-rich Gulf emirate. The trial, which opened on May 24, resumed amid tight security. One of 11 men initially tried in absentia, Nuri Mutashar Mudallal, turned himself in during the hearing. Mudallal, 30, is one of seven bidoon, or stateless Arabs, in the group. Twenty-five defendants are Kuwaitis, two Jordanians and one each from Saudi Arabia, Australia and Somalia, the case documents showed. Most of the suspects are accused of involvement in four gunbattles with Kuwaiti security forces in January that left four police officers dead and 10 others wounded. Eight militants were killed in the fighting, while the alleged leader of the group died in police detention eight days after his arrest on January 31.

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Arabia

Heart Failure ... MP Wants Answers

2005-02-11

The leader of a cell which allegedly plotted to kidnap US soldiers and other Westerners in Kuwait died in custody overnight of heart failure, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday. Kuwaiti daily Al-Qabas added on its website that the suspect was being questioned by prosecutors Tuesday when he began to feel ill and was examined by doctors before he died. "Amer Khleif Al-Enezi died last night of heart failure," an Interior Ministry statement said. Enezi, 29, was detained on Jan 31 along with five of his supporters after a nine-hour firefight with security forces in which four gunmen were killed. Another man who was arrested later died of his wounds. The cell of militants allegedly plotted to kidnap US soldiers and other Westerners and film their murders and carry out attacks on US military convoys heading for Iraq. The London-based Islamic Observatory, which monitors the treatment of Islamist prisoners in the Middle East, charged that Enezi had died "under torture" and demanded an independent commission of inquiry. "Enezi was killed because he refused to give information" on wanted Islamists, it said in a statement received by AFP in Dubai. "We call on the authorities to authorise the setting up of a neutral commission of inquiry, made up of Kuwaiti MPs, lawyers' unions representatives and doctors to elucidate the circumstances and reasons for this killing." Kuwaiti Islamist MP Waleed Al-Tabtabei, meanwhile, sent questions to Interior Minister Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah about the "circumstances surrounding the death" and whether Enezi's body was examined by forensics. The lawmaker, who demanded copies of the report on Enezi's death, also asked if security authorities had complied with the Constitution which bans the torturing of suspects during interrogation. Enezi was a mosque preacher in Jahra, 40 kilometres (25 miles) northwest of Kuwait City, until a few months ago when he was reportedly dismissed by the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic affairs because of his "extremist views". Enezi's younger brother, Nasser, allegedly his right-hand man, was killed on Jan 30 in a gunbattle with security forces in Kuwait City during which a police officer was also killed. Security forces have fought gunbattles with al-Qaeda-linked Islamist gunmen, killing eight of them and capturing at least 14 others over the past month. Four police officers were also killed and 10 others wounded. According to press reports, Enezi confessed during interrogation that his group, the Peninsula Lions Brigade, was linked to the Saudi militant Al-Haramain Brigades, which has links with al-Qaeda. Enezi also reportedly confessed that his younger brother underwent explosives training in Iraq and that the group was planning attacks on US military convoys using Kuwait as a transit point to Iraq. Newspapers have reported that the ringleader told investigators the militants' aim was to set up an "Islamic emirate."

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