Qatar’s Supreme Court of Justice ordered the retrial of three Asian men, two Indians and a Nepali, who were handed the death penalty six months ago

Qatar’s Supreme Court of Justice ordered the retrial of three Asian men, two Indians and a Nepali, who were handed the death penalty six months ago by an appeal court in a murder case. According to the defendants’ lawyer, the Supreme Court found “defects” in the application of law during the previous hearings. The appeal court in 2006 June upheld the death penalty against the three men given by a first instance court for “pimping and premeditated murder” of an unidentified Asian woman in October 2003. Although the police never established the identity of the victim, the Public Prosecution said she was an absconding Indonesian housemaid in her 30s, who worked as a “prostitute” under the supervision of one of the accused. The lawyer claimed he had documents from the immigration department that said the “Indonesian” housemaid whose name was mentioned in the first degree verdict had left the country alive. The condemned Indians are Sreedharan Moni Kandan, 32, and Unni Krishna Mahadevan, 33. The Nepali’s name was given as Chandera Sheker Yadav, 45. They claimed that the police had forced them to confess to the murder. A fourth man, a 32-year-old Nepali named Buddhiman Gurung, was sentenced to two years in jail and a fine of QR2,000, followed by deportation.