FINAL APPEAL ON PENINSULA LIONS CASE: MOST

UNCLAS KUWAIT 004452 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ARP AND S/CT, LONDON FOR TSOU, PARIS FOR WALLER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV KU TERRORISM SUBJECT: FINAL APPEAL ON PENINSULA LIONS CASE: MOST SENTENCES UPHELD, SOME INCREASED, SOME LESSENED REF: A. 06 KUWAIT 3079 ¶B. 05 KUWAIT 5270 ¶1. (SBU) After the failure of a constitutional challenge to the law on which the Peninsula Lions' defendants were convicted, the Court of Appeals issued its final ruling in the case on November 13. Of the 36 living defendants (Defendant 31, Nuha Muhammad Roomi Al-Enezi, died of cancer so no further ruling was made on her case),no changes were made to the 29 guilty verdicts or the 7 not guilty verdicts. However, there were changes to the sentences of 13 of those found guilty: nine sentences were reduced and four were increased. Included in the sentences that were not changed are four death sentences, four sentences of ten years or more, two seven-year sentences, and six sentences of four years or less. The changed sentences are as follows: Defendant 2, Ahmed Masameh Mohsen Majed Al Mutairi, Kuwaiti - from death to life imprisonment. Defendant 5, Misha'al Muta'ab Mohammed Al Shimmari, Bidoon/Stateless - from ten years to five years imprisonment. Defendant 7, Ahmed Naqimash Abdulaziz Al-Enezi, Bidoon/Stateless - from death to life imprisonment. Defendant 10, Mohammed Sareh Thafour Al Ajmi, Kuwaiti - life to 15 years. Defendant 12, Majed Mayyah Jeza'ah Al-Mutairi, Kuwaiti - seven years to ten years imprisonment. Defendant 13, Maqbul Fahd Fahhad Al-Maqbul, Kuwaiti - seven years to ten years imprisonment. Defendant 16, Mohammed Jama'an Safaq Al-Mutairi, Kuwaiti - seven years to ten years imprisonment. Defendant 17, Hussam Yousef Abdul-Rahim Yousef, Jordanian - from four years to two years imprisonment. Defendant 18, Abdulla Adel Abdulatif Al Rabei, Kuwaiti - from four years to two years imprisonment. Defendant 23, Fahed Shakheer Abdullah Al-Enezi, Kuwaiti - from four years and four months to two years imprisonment. Defendant 25, Mohammed Shuja'a Faraj Al-Otaibi, Kuwaiti - from four years hard labor to 500 KD fine and and two years probation. Defendant 30, Faisal Amir Mohammed Abu Qazila, Kuwaiti - five years to ten years imprisonment. Defendant 32, Talal Al-Adri, Australian - four years to two and a half years. ¶2. (SBU) The defendants, 18 of whom were in the courtroom cell, reacted joyfully, hugging and kissing each other and shouting "death to America," "death to Israel," "death in the path of Allah" and other slogans. ********************************************* * For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/?cable s Visit Kuwait's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/ ********************************************* * Tueller