Kuwait: Five hanged as Kuwait continues execution spree into second year

Responding to the hanging of five people by the Kuwaiti authorities yesterday including one convicted of a drug-related offence, Rawya Rageh, Amnesty International’s Interim Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said:

“The Kuwaiti government has now executed a dozen people in less than a year, claiming a to be ‘tough on crime’ approach that panders to people’s worst instincts. The execution of one man for a drug-related offence violates international law which prohibits the use of the death penalty for such an offence.

It is deeply disappointing that Kuwait has returned to executions with such vigour and particularly when they had paused executions for five years starting 2017.

There is no credible evidence that such executions by the state have a greater deterrent effect on crimes than prison terms. Amnesty International calls on the Kuwaiti authorities to immediately establish an official moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty.”