| Guess we'll see how long the Kuwaiti attention span actually is. The bodies should be cold by now... |
Kuwaiti lawyers defending 22 Islamists charged with recruiting anti-US fighters for Iraq on Sunday urged the court to acquit them for lack of evidence after the defendants denied the charges. Only 12 of the defendants were present in the courtroom as lawyers made their arguments in a closed-door hearing and were banned from speaking to the press by presiding judge Adel Al-Huwaidi. Only one suspect remained in police custody after 19 others were released on a KD 300 ($1,000) bail each while two remained at large, including Khaled Al-Dossari, spokesman for the Association of Victims of Torture and Arbitrary Arrest.Dossari and at least two others, one of them involved in this case, are being hunted by security forces for their alleged links to a string of deadly clashes that rocked the country in January.The court, which opened its hearings in the case on Nov 28, will announce its verdict on April 10, the source said. Twenty of the defendants are Kuwaiti, including three teenagers, while one is a Saudi and one a stateless Arab. Some of the men are charged with plotting to carry out an aggressive act against a foreign country by leaving Kuwait with the intent to fight against foreign troops in Iraq, thus endangering the country's foreign ties. Other defendants are charged with training some of the accused to use firearms and explosives and teaching them fighting skills.
Munawer, representing the 12 suspects, requested the court to acquit his clients. He told the court an Italian judge on Jan 24, 2005 canceled the charge of terrorism against five Arabs - four Tunisians and a Moroccan - who were accused of planning to carry out acts in Europe. The judge, Clementine Folio, in her verdict had said there was no clear evidence to show the suspects had planned to commit acts of terror. She added sending money and militiamen to fight in Iraq is considered a 'struggle', not terrorism. She added proof submitted to the court is weak which mainly depended on intelligence reports and not clear evidence which could be accepted in court.The judge sentenced two of the men to three years in jail and a third to 22 months. These verdicts are lenient compared with those issued against them if they had been convicted of 'terrorism' which could lead to at least 10 years imprisonment. She referred the files of the two other suspects to another court, Al-Munawer told the court.