Kuwait Panel to Study Sentences of Collaborators

One day after a martial-law tribunal sentenced its first convicted wartime collaborator to death, the Kuwaiti government said Sunday that it will set up a panel to review all verdicts in the controversial trials.

The announcement was reported without elaboration in a leading Kuwaiti newspaper, Al Fajr Al Jadid (New Dawn), which is operating under censorship and has cleaved closely to the government line.

“The martial-law governor has ordered the formation of an office of three legal counsels to study verdicts issued by the martial-law courts for approval to see if these courts have applied the law correctly,” the paper quoted Justice Minister Ghazi Samar as saying.

Under martial law--which was imposed immediately after Kuwait’s liberation on Feb. 26, then extended for 30 days--a defendant has no right to appeal. But the martial-law governor, Crown Prince Sheik Saad al Abdullah al Sabah, will review all sentences.

Absent from Sunday’s editions of New Dawn and other local papers was any mention of a speech Saturday by the U.S. ambassador to Kuwait warning that the allies who freed the emirate now expect it to respect human rights.

“Clearly, those individuals who broke Kuwaiti laws and were parties to Iraqi criminal actions should be prosecuted fairly and fully under the law,” Ambassador Edward W. (Skip) Gnehm Jr. told the Kuwaiti Chamber of Commerce. “But the innocent should not become new victims.

“No matter how emotionally difficult it is, Kuwaitis must now champion justice and fairness for all people in Kuwait in the very same way the entire world stood for those principles for you.”

It was unclear Sunday whether the ambassador’s remarks had inspired the judicial review panel.

Before the invasion last Aug. 2, Kuwait had five people on death row for terrorism and political violence. Since the emir never approved their sentences, the executions were not carried out.

However, in the bitter postwar climate, as the government attempts to curb abductions, beatings and revenge killings of suspected Iraqi collaborators by rogue police and vigilantes, executions of convicted collaborators are considered more likely.

“Now I think if the death sentence is issued it will certainly be carried out, because the government doesn’t want to look weak,” one Kuwaiti observer said. “And the people want it.”

Mankhi Shimmeri, convicted of joining the Iraqi-sponsored Popular Army and supplying information to the enemy, was sentenced Saturday to death by hanging.

Shimmeri is a former air force sergeant, one of many stateless Arabs in Kuwait’s military. He admitted that he had enlisted under duress in the Iraqi militia and was then dragged off to Iraq. His defense attorney described him as “more of a POW than a volunteer.”

At least 600 people are in detention in Kuwait, and more than 200 are to be tried as collaborators for offenses ranging from looting to betraying members of the Kuwaiti resistance. A number of the defendants who appeared in court have complained that they were beaten into false confessions, but the five-judge, martial-law tribunal has said such confessions are not being considered as evidence.

Defense attorneys have criticized the prosecution, saying that key collaborators fled to Iraq, leaving powerless non-Kuwaitis behind to face charges.

“The prosecutors should be very careful before charging the defendant,” said attorney Mohammed Anzi, who has represented many of the accused. “Just because he’s not a Kuwaiti or an Arab does not mean he should be under suspicion. These people are only being charged because they are not Kuwaitis.”

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd arrived for the first talks with Kuwait’s emir, Sheik Jabbar al Ahmed al Sabah, since Kuwait was freed from Iraqi occupation. Their four-hour meeting was held privately, without the usual delegations.

Although there was no official announcement, local observers said the two leaders undoubtedly discussed postwar security arrangements for Kuwait, which remains wary of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s continuing reign next door.

In March, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council agreed to establish a joint defense force with Syria and Egyptian troops as its backbone. Egypt later announced it would withdraw troops from Kuwait--a decision that has since been reversed--and Syria said it would follow suit, leaving the Saudis in a leading role.

The United States still has about 3,400 troops in Kuwait, but it has committed itself to keeping a fighting force only until Sept. 1.