Kuwait has put seven people to death in a mass execution, the state-run KUNA news agency confirmed, making it the first execution since 2017 despite appeals from human rights organisations for clemency. Prominent rights organisation Amnesty International called on Tuesday for the executions to be halted, saying they were a “violation of the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment” and that Kuwait should abolish the death penalty “entirely”. “[Kuwaiti] authorities must immediately establish an official moratorium on executions,” Amnesty’s deputy regional director Amna Guellali said in a statement. The death penalty is widespread in the Gulf region, particularly in Iran and Saudi Arabia. Kuwait introduced the death penalty in the mid-1960s and since then has executed dozens of people, mainly those convicted of murder or drug trafficking.

Source: Ethiopian News November 17, 2022 03:54 UTC