the Qatar Court of Appeals upheld the verdict...

the Qatar Court of Appeals upheld the verdict of the Court of First Instance awarding the death sentence to three residents, who were found guilty of the murder of a maid in 2003. Indian embassy officials said the lawyer was yet to get the copy of the appeal court’s verdict. “He is expecting it in a couple of weeks. Once he gets the copy of the judgment, the lawyer will appeal before the Cassation court,” the official said. Two of the three accused are Indians. The Indians, who are in their 30's and 40s, told the Court of First Instance that they were forced to confess to the crime by the police. Earlier, the media reported that the victim was a runaway maid and the accused lured the woman, desperate for a job, into an illegal racket at a garage in the Industrial Area, where one of the three was working as a guard. On the fateful night, she was abused by several men leading to serious medical problems. She also picked up a fight with the convicts. One of the men stabbed her with a knife while his accomplice banged her head against the door of a car. While testifying in court, the criminal investigation officer said that the post-mortem suggested that the woman was raped by several men before she was killed. The official told the court that the men initially dumped the body in a garbage bin, but later took it away from the bin and buried the body in a shallow pit near Wakrah Corniche. The body was found eaten by stray dogs causing much difficulty in identifying the victim.