KUWAIT: ROYAL ON DEATH ROW

the Kuwaiti Court of Appeals listened to defence arguments of Sheikh Talal Al-Sabah’s lawyers and set Dec 10, 2007, to issue a verdict in the appeal. On Dec 17, 2006, the Criminal Court in Kuwait sentenced Sheikh Talal Al-Sabah to capital punishment and fined him KD 10,000 for trafficking in drugs and money laundering. The court also sentenced Talal to 10 years imprisonment, three years for possessing unlicensed arms and ammunition and seven for money laundering, and fined him the same amount of money he 'earned' from the sale of drugs and ordered the confiscation of money, drugs and guns and ammunition seized from the convicts. The court sentenced Faisal Ayyal Al-Enezi, a bedoun; Ameer, Bangladeshi and Tazhi to life imprisonment. During a raid on Talal's home in a suburb of Surra, police found in Talal's pocket a large piece of hashish and two rolls of cocaine. In his bedroom police found four large pieces of hashish and 89 rolls of cocaine. They also found a pistol loaded with five bullets. Police also found an automatic rifle under his bed. In his car police found another pistol loaded with three bullets. Talal also admitted to hiding some drugs in the basement of his home and when police accompanied him to the basement, they found 127 large pieces of hashish, 28 bags of cocaine, two grinders with traces of cocaine, a scale and a large amount of paper especially cut for packing cocaine. Defense lawyers claimed he was innocent and that he was searched illegally.