Maximum punishment sought for militants

The public prosecutor yesterday demanded the highest penalty for 37 suspected militants accused of involvement in bloody clashes with police in January.

"I request the court to apply the highest penalty against these suspects whose crimes have shaken Kuwaiti society, horrified innocent people and killed security men," Public Prosecutor Saud Al Sane told the Criminal Court yesterday while explaining the prosecution's charges against 37 Islamists in the so-called Peninsula Lions Organisation case.

"The suspects have not realised that the foreign forces in Kuwait, whom they tried to fight, have come here to defend our interests and provide security for our people," said Al Sane. "The safety and security of these forces should be guaranteed according to international conventions," he added.

Al Sane said the defendants had plotted to form an illegal organisation aiming to resist the legal authorities and accusing society of aiding foreign forces.

He added the defendants have gathered a lot of firearms, ammunition and explosives to help them commit their crimes.

"They killed securitymen and civilians during shootouts in the suburbs of Maidan Hawalli, Umm Al Haiman, Salmiya and Mubarak Al Kabeer," he said.

Attorney Khalid Abdul Jalil, lawyer for six of the suspects, requested the court to allow the defence team sufficient time to prepare arguments, adding most of his colleagues are willing to join him in his request.

The court then adjourned its hearing until November 12 to allow the defence team to prepare their arguments.

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

During a previous session, most of the suspects took off their shirts and showed the court signs of torture on their bodies.

The court then ordered the formation of a committee from the Kuwait University Faculty of Medicine to examine the suspects. The report of the committee was to be submitted during the session yesterday. The only woman involved in the case was brought from jail in a wheelchair as she has cancer and her case was critical.

The writer is a journalist based in Kuwait