New suspects in torture case referred to state prosecutors

Tuesday,18 January 2011


By : Abdullah Al-Najjar

KUWAIT: The Ministry of Interior's investigation committee of the death of Mohammed Al-Mutairi has referred three Ahmadi CID officers to the Public Prosecution Service on Monday for their purported involvement either in the torture of the or withholding information. The concerned officers include First Lieutenant Abdullah Al-Awadhi, Sergeant Ahmed Al-Rasheedi and Lance Corporal Faisal al-Asfour.


The prosecutors have listened to their statements after accusing them of torture to death and ordered their remand in custody pending further investigations. The committee, which is chaired by Major General Abdulhameed Al-Awadhi, has been asked to conduct necessary investigations with the three men, particularly since the investigations carried out by the committee initially established that the torture took place twice, the first at a pen in Kabd area which belongs to the uncle of the first accused First Lieutenant Salem Al-Rashed and the second session of torture occurred at the Ahmadi CID office. The committee was also asked to summon the pen owner to listen to his statements in order to establish whether or not he was aware of what happened in the pen. The watchman at the pen, as Asian national, is expected to equally summon in order to ascertain whether he took part in any of the actions that took place on that day.

In a related development, the Minister of Interior Sheikh Jaber Al-Khaled Al-Sabah has met with the members of the parliamentary commission set up to probe the circumstances surrounding the death of Al-Mutairi. The meeting was attended by members of the ministry's investigation committee, including Chairman Al-Awadhi.

The meeting mainly focused on the criminal aspect of the case, which was followed by discussions regarding the administrative aspect. The latter is related to the "deliberate" misleading over the case. The officials also discussed the wrong statement issued by the Ministry of Interior at the beginning of the case as well as listening to the opinion of the forensic team. There was an agreement that the process is completed with due transparency.

Meanwhile, lawyers Bashar al-Nassar and Zaid Al-Khabbaz have announced they were rescinding their decision to be part of the legal team defending the CIDs accused of being involved in the murder case. The lawyers made it clear that after ascertaining the truth, they are not honored to defend people that have breached the law rather than upholding it