Kuwait has killed seven people in a mass execution, state news agency KUNA confirmed, making it the first execution since 2017 despite calls from human rights groups for clemency. The prisoners hanged on Wednesday were four Kuwaitis, one Pakistani, one Syrian and one Ethiopian. Two of the seven were women. It was the first execution since January 25, 2017, when seven people were also hanged, including a member of the Al-Sabah royal family, which has ruled the country for two and a half centuries. Prominent rights group Amnesty International called on Tuesday for a halt to the executions, saying they were “a violation of the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment” and that Kuwait should “completely” abolish the death penalty . “[Kuwaiti] The authorities must immediately institute an official moratorium on executions,” Amnesty’s deputy regional director, Amna Gwelali, said in a statement. The death penalty is widespread in the Gulf region, particularly in Iran and Saudi Arabia. In March, Saudi Arabia executed 81 men in one day, making it the largest known mass execution in the kingdom’s modern history. Kuwait introduced the death penalty in the mid-1960s and has since executed dozens of people, mostly those convicted of murder or drug trafficking. In 2013, Kuwaiti authorities hanged three men convicted of murder in April. Two months later, two Egyptians, who had been convicted of murder and kidnapping, were executed. (Al Jazeera)
