Twenty-two men suspected of links to a group of Islamists recruiting anti-US fighters for Iraq went on trial in Kuwait City on Sunday, legal sources said. Two of the suspects are in police custody, 16 were released on a wholly inadequate 300-dinar (1,000-dollar) bail and four are still at large, including Khaled al-Dossari, spokesman for the Association of Victims of Torture and Arbitrary Arrest. Twenty of them are Kuwaiti, including three teenagers, one is a Saudi and one a Palestinian stateless Arab. All are charged with taking part in an aggressive act against a friendly country, raising funds for Islamist activists engaged in fighting US-led forces in Iraq and illegal possession of weapons. Six suspects who attended the overcrowded hearing denied the charges against them.
The judge turned down a request by defence lawyers to release the two still in prison. Legal sources said the pair were recently extradited by Syria where they were arrested attempting to cross into Iraq.
| "Yer honor, my clients are in no way a flight risk! Why, the border guards knew exactly where to find them!" |
The session was adjourned until December 12. The suspects were arrested in a crackdown carried out by Kuwaiti security forces since July after Syria extradited four Kuwaitis, including the three teenagers. Two of the teenagers are charged with having travelled to the Iraqi flashpoint city of Fallujah to fight US forces. The third was arrested by Syrian security forces just before trying to cross into Iraq.
| He was going to see the pyramids. |
|