KUWAIT CITY, Jan 17, (Agencies): A Kuwaiti court on Tuesday sentenced two police officers Salem Al-Rashid and Abdullah Al-Awadi to life in prison and handed three others 16-year jail terms for torturing a man to death last year.
The criminal court also issued prison sentences to two other officers, one to 15 years in jail and another for two years.
Faisal Al-Asfour, Abdullah Al-Azmi, Ayid Al-Otaibi and Ahmad Al-Rashidi received long prison sentences, while Suleiman Al-Mutar got two years.
Two other policemen were each fined KD 200 ($720), while the remaining 11 defendants were acquitted, including two foreigners who worked at the police station.
The verdicts are not final and can still be appealed before higher courts.
All the defendants were charged with torturing four detainees at the police station in January 2011. One of the victims, 35-year-old Mohammad Ghazzai Al-Mutairi, died of his injuries.
The incident shocked the Kuwaiti public and led to the resignation of former interior minister Sheikh Jaber Khaled Al-Sabah.
A parliamentary panel investigation found that Mutairi had apparently been subjected to severe torture for six days, including three days in a remote desert location.