Lawyers of 37 Islamists push for their acquittal

A Kuwait criminal court is set to issue a verdict in the so-called 'Peninsula Lions Organisation' case involving 37 Islamists on December 27.

During the week-long session which ended on Wednesday and was presided over by Judge Hani Al Hamdan, the lawyers argued that the public prosecution questioning should be cancelled.

"The public prosecution interrogations should be cancelled as we were not allowed to attend the sessions with our clients," said attorney Dukhi Al Hasban, lawyer for one of the suspects.

"These men were preparing to leave for Iraq to fight the occupation forces there believing jihad was a must," said Hasban.

"When I saw the signs of torture on my clients' bodies, I was shocked that such practices can take place in Kuwait," said another lawyer.

"However, the forensic report was disappointing as it did not mention the defendants' injuries," added attorney Mohammad Menwir.

Attorney Mubarak Al Shimmari said Security Council resolution No 1373 was issued on October 20, 2001 to form a committee headed by the United States stipulating that terrorist groups must be chased even in their own countries.

"This resolution is the basis for this case," said Al Shimmari.

He added his client was preparing himself to leave for Iraq to fight a 'holy war' against the occupation forces there.

Another lawyer, attorney Fahad Al Ajmi said his client was referred to the Public Prosecution when he was very ill. However, the prosecution did not try to investigate the reasons for his poor health.

He added the signs of torture were clear on the suspects' bodies six months after the incident occurred.

"This case is purely political as I believe it aims to make an example of such guys and tell them to forget about jihad," said attorney Mubarak Al Mutawa.

He added the press had played a 'great role' in getting the state security forces to arrest the men.

Most of the suspects are charged with collaborating with nine other men, who died during gun battles with securitymen earlier this year, to destroy the stability of the state and kill securitymen and friendly forces.

Twenty-five of the suspects are Kuwaiti, seven are bidoon (people without proper documents), two Jordanian, one Saudi, one Somali and one Australian.

The writer is a journalist based in Kuwait