KUWAIT. APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCES OF 4 MUSLIM FUNDAMENTALISTS IN TERROR CASE

an appeals court in Kuwait city upheld four death sentences and commuted two others to life in prison in a terror case against a group of Muslim fundamentalists convicted of plotting attacks on US troops in Kuwait.
The defendants were arrested in January 2005 after the country experienced unprecedented clashes between police and suspected terrorists. Eight suspected militants and four police officers were killed.
In December 2005, the criminal court condemned the six to death and sentenced several others to prison.
Both the prosecution and the convicted defendants appealed the criminal court's findings.
"Death to America, death to Israel," shouted one of the 18 bearded defendants from behind bars in the courtroom after Judge Ibrahim al-Obeid read the rulings. One of those whose death sentences were commuted, knelt down in thanks to God.
The court affirmed the not guilty rulings of seven others, including a lawyer who defends Muslim extremists and a cleric known for preaching against the presence of American forces in the area. Four others had their sentences either increased or reduced to 10 or 15 years.
The prosecution had said that members of the group, dubbed the Lions of the Peninsula, possessed weapons and chemicals that could be used for making explosives, and that they were plotting to attack Kuwaiti security officers.
Defense lawyers for the group's leaders had argued that the men were planning to go to Iraq to fight foreign troops. Many defendants said they confessed under duress. A Jordanian defendant said state security threatened to sexually assault his wife, who was also detained, unless he said that members of the group, who had lived in his apartment, had fought with police.