KUWAITI 'DREAM KILLER' MUST HANG, SAYS COURT

Kuwait's appeals court upheld a death sentence handed down against a Shiite Muslim who said he had been ordered in a dream to kill his wife and two children. Dhaher al-Fadhli, 47, shot and killed 38 year old Badriya, his eldest son Waleed, 21, and 16 year old daughter Baida in December 2004, claiming he was ordered to do so in a dream by the Imam al-Mahdi, the "hidden imam" and a central figure in the Shiite faith. Fadhli also shot at another daughter but missed. He then fled with three more daughters to the Gulf shore where he expected the imam to arrive to "bless" his deed. The sentence must be now approved by the court of cassation, the emirate's highest court, before he is executed by hanging. Fadhli, a "bidoon" or stateless Arab, worked as a computer engineer in the Kuwaiti army until 1999 when he was fired after being allegedly involved in a drugs case.