KUWAIT: THREE HANGED IN THE FIRST EXECUTIONS SINCE 2007

Kuwait hanged three convicted murderers in the first executions in the Gulf state since May 2007, the ministry of justice said.
The men, a Pakistani, a Saudi and a stateless Arab, were hanged at the central jail, west of the capital Kuwait City, in front of judicial and security officials, the ministry said.
Pakistani Parvez Ghulam was convicted of killing a Kuwaiti couple and the Saudi national, Faisal al-Oteibi, of stabbing a compatriot to death.
The stateless Arab, Dhaher al-Oteibi, was hanged for shooting and killing his wife and five children after claiming he was a long-awaited Imam. Shiite Muslims revere Islam's twelfth Imam, Mohammad Al-Mahdi, who disappeared from the earth in the tenth century and is said to be due to return to save mankind.
Kuwait had six years ago stopped executing convicts sentenced to death without providing an explanation.
Public attorney Mohammad al-Duaij, who supervised the executions, was cited by the official KUNA news agency as saying another 48 people were on death row awaiting a final decision on their sentences by the Emir. Under Kuwaiti law, the Emir has the right to commute death sentences to a life term.
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.