Manama: Kuwait is set to execute five men convicted of crimes, a local news site has said.
Citing sources it did not identify, Al Aan on Monday afternoon said that the execution orders have been endorsed and that the five men could be executed soon.
Among the five men to be hanged to death is Hajjaj Al Saadi, known in the Kuwaiti media as the Hawalli Beast for allegedly raping 18 children.
The Beast was reportedly arrested in 2007 as he was about to board a plane for Egypt.
Courts in 10 separate cases condemned him to death and to life in prison in three other cases.
The sentences were upheld by the court of appeals and the court of cassation.
Kuwaiti authorities said that the rapes started in early 2006 and that the victims were young boys and girls aged less than 10.
He targeted them mostly in the afternoon and used his physical force to overwhelm them, they said.
In April, Kuwait carried out three executions, the first in the country since May 2007.
A Saudi, a Pakistani and a Kuwait resident without citizenship were hanged inside the Central Prison for murder, in the presence of officials.
Journalists were allowed to witness the executions.
A Kuwaiti daily also in April reported that “instructions have been given to the Central Prison to prepare for the hanging of five inmates sentenced to death.”
Al Jareeda newspaper did not specify the nationalities of the detainees to be executed.
Reports in Kuwait City said that 49 inmates were on the death row. However, 44 were still awaiting the decision of the Court of Cassation, the highest court in the country that could oversee their cases.
Execution rulings have to be endorsed by the Emir before they are carried out.
