Public allowed to see hanged Bangladeshis

Three Bangladeshis convicted of raping and murdering a Sri Lankan maid were hanged in Kuwait today and for the first time in two decades, the public were allowed to look at the corpses minutes after the men died.

Bangladesh had appealed for clemency for Anwar Khan Mohammed, Anwar al-Zamman and Mohammed Abdul-Sattar, who had paid blood money to the family of the victim.

But Kuwaiti authorities turned down the appeal, according to their lawyer, Ahmed Qorban.

The prosecutor-general, Hamed al-Othman, said after the execution that took place in the courtyard of the capital’s executive seat, said: ‘‘This achieves public deterrence.’’

‘‘No doubt, this will cut down on crime in our country.’’

Lawyer Qorban said: ‘‘Taking the life of a human being is ugly and public hangings are an insult to humanity. But the problem in Kuwait is that crime has increased.’’

There were public cries for the reinstatement of public hangings after a six-year-old girl was abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered in April.

Three Saudi Arabians and a Kuwaiti are on trial for the crime.

For 20 years, Kuwait has been carrying out hangings in the Central Prison with only officials and clerics present.

It was not clear if today’s event marked a return to the public hangings which used to take place at the same building and at a square in the centre of Kuwait City.

The three men were convicted by three courts of raping and murdering the maid at her employer’s home in 1996.

Several hundred people waited for the gate of the government building to open so that they could see the bodies suspended from the gallows and separated from the crowd by a chicken wire fence.

The bodies were taken down some 20 minutes after the execution.