Kuwait: Halt the execution of three Bangladeshi migrant workers

Their execution is currently scheduled to take place tomorrow, Wednesday 26 June 2002, at eight o'clock in the morning, at Nayef Palace, Kuwait City.

One of their lawyers has stated that while in detention all three men were repeatedly beaten; that their legs were bound and the soles of their feet beaten bloody and no medical attention was ever made available to them. He also added that they did not understand the lower court proceedings which resulted in sentences to life imprisonment for all three men, nor the appeal court hearings which concluded that they should be put to death.

Amnesty International recognises the rights and responsibilities of governments to bring to justice those suspected of criminal offences, but is unconditionally opposed to the death penalty in all cases, as the ultimate violation of the right to life.

June Ray, Amnesty International's Middle East Program Director, said:

'The decision to proceed with the execution of these three individuals flies in the face of the progress represented by Kuwait's accession in 1996 to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Plans to execute these three men must be immediately halted and an investigation initiated into the allegations of torture while in detention. The authorities should find out whether the accused understood the court procedures they faced.'