A Kuwaiti appeals court on Sunday upheld the death sentence of a former army colonel for treason and collaborating with Iraq after its 1990 invasion of the emirate.
"This is unfair, your honor," Alaa Hussein Ali shouted from the cage in which he was being held as soon as Judge Ahmad al-Ajeel announced the verdict in a one-minute hearing.
Defense lawyer Nawaf Sari told reporters in the packed courtroom, where 41-year-old Ali's teenage son and daughter were also present, that he would appeal the verdict in the cassation court, the last stage in the legal process.
"We respect the judiciary but I think he should have been treated like the eight members of his cabinet," against whom charges were not pressed, he said, referring to the puppet regime which Ali headed at the start of Iraq's 1990-1991 occupation.
"We will ask for new witnesses in the next appeal and there will be new demands. If these are not meet, we will keep silent before the court," warned the lawyer.
Ali was first sentenced to death in absentia in 1993. The sentence was upheld by the criminal court on May 3rd following his voluntary return to Kuwait - KUWAIT CITY (AFP)
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