The Kuwaiti authorities must urgently intervene to stop the execution of Hajjaj Al-Saadi, an Egyptian national sentenced to death, feared to be at risk of imminent execution, Amnesty International said. “All executions in Kuwait must stop immediately,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Programme Director at Amnesty International.“However deplorable the crime, the death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and must be abolished in Kuwait once and for all.” Al-Saadi, who is known as the “Hawally Monster”, was arrested in 2007 and convicted of raping 17 children. The organization has written to His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the Amir of Kuwait, to express its dismay at the resumption of the use of the death penalty in Kuwait this year. Three men convicted of murder were hanged in Kuwait on 1 April in the first executions carried out in the country since May 2007.“Kuwait must commute all death sentences and revise the law to prohibit capital punishment,” Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui said. More than 44 people are currently reported to be on death row in the country.
