QATAR APPEAL COURT COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE OF THREE IRANIANS

an appeals court in Doha, Qatar, commuted the death sentences issued to three Iranians to life sentences with a fine of QR300,000 each. The three had been sentenced to death and fined QR500,000 each for trying to smuggle 108kg of hashish into Qatar on 21 October 2004. The drugs were seized from a dinghy, some 600m off the Wakrah coast, in an anti-drug squad operation. The appeals court annulled the sentence because the judges panel didn't lodge the reasons for their verdict within 15 days of pronouncing it in court, in accordance with Article 241 of Qatar's criminal code 11/2004.