Kuwaiti court upholds death penalty for royal and Indian

Dubai, Dec 11: The Appeal Court in Kuwait has upheld a death sentence handed down to a member of the ruling Al Sabah family for drug trafficking -- a first in the history of the oil-rich gulf state.

Besides the royal, identified only as Shaikh Talal, the court also upheld yesterday the death sentences to three accomplices -- an Indian, a Bangladeshi and an undocumented person.

The trio was sentenced last December by the lower criminal court to death.

Two other convicts, a Lebanese and an Iraqi, were sentenced to seven years in jail each. They were accused along with Shaikh Talal of money laundering.

The death sentence must be confirmed by the Court of Cassation and then signed by the ruler before the defendant can be executed by hanging, the Gulf News reported quoting sources.

Kuwaiti police arrested the group in April last year with large quatity of drugs, including at least 10 kg of cocaine and 120 kg of hashish.

UNI