Accused Kuwait puppet says he was tortured

A Kuwaiti sentenced to death for heading a puppet government during Iraqi occupation pleaded for his life yesterday, saying he was an innocent victim of torture. "I just want them to understand my circumstances during the Iraqi occupation, as I was a victim of torture...I am convinced of my innocence," Alaa Hussein, who appeared weak, told Reuters, adding that he was in poor mental health.

Hussein's Kuwaiti lawyer Nawaf Al Mutari made a final appeal to Kuwait's Cassation Court yesterday.

"Alaa was born and brought up in Kuwait, his heart started beating in Kuwait, and I hope his heart will not stop in this country," attorney lawyer Nawaf Al Mutari said. "Alaa Hussein Ali is a victim like the rest of the Kuwaiti people. His conviction will prove there are traitors in Kuwait and will please Saddam," Nawaf Al Mutari told the court in his closing argument.

Chief Justice Abdullah Al Issa, who chaired yesterday's court session, adjourned the trial until tomorrow when Ali's second lawyer, Kateb Al Shimari of Saudi Arabia, will present his closing argument.

Nawaf Al Mutari said Hussein should be treated as a prisoner of war and be granted the benefits under the 1949 Geneva Convention on the treatment of PoWs. A large number of Hussein's family, including his three sons and daughter, parents and sisters were present in the courtroom and repeatedly broke in tears during the session.

Hussein, a former Kuwaiti military reserve officer, returned from self-imposed exile in Norway in January 2000, believing he would be pardoned for his actions during Iraq's occupation almost a decade earlier.

But a lower court found him guilty of treason in May and sentenced him to death. An appeals court upheld the sentence in July. The Cassation Court will review procedures and laws under which Hussein was sentenced to death. If it upholds the ruling, the sentence will be sent to Kuwait's Emir for final approval.

Hussein and his relatives said they had sent two appeals to the Emir, His Highness Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Al Sabah, and the defendant's four children had also tried several times to meet the Emir to ask him to spare Hussein's life.

"My father was under permanent threats when he was in Iraq, our life was like hell filled with fear and horror," Hussein's daughter Hoda, 15, told Reuters yesterday.

The puppet government was in effect for only a few days after Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990, before Baghdad annexed the country and disbanded Hussein's cabinet. A U.S.-led military alliance defeated Iraq in the six-week Gulf War and ended Baghdad's seven-month occupation of Kuwait in February 1991.

Other members of the short-lived puppet government were acquitted when they were tried after the Gulf War.