What? - A Member Of Ruling Kuwait Family Condemned!

Well folks – I’m back. A lot has happened whilst I was away - most of the news media had been dominated by the controversial hanging of Saddam Hussein. Whilst Sunnis and Shias do their best to kill each other as well as kill American troops in Iraq, President Bush had agreed to send more troops to bolster the army. Hilary “I love Israel because Israel represented American Values during the war in Lebanon” Clinton has put her name for the Presidential running, Meanwhile Israel has agreed to give $100m in tax collections that it had been withholding from the Palestinian governments (question is when are they going to give the funds) and lastly friend of America - President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez told U.S. officials to "Go to hell, gringos!" and called Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "missy" on his weekly radio show. His friend Bolivian President Evo Morales had a similar message at a recent rally. Poor America, I winder if Fidel Castro will outlast Hilary if she won the Presidency?

Anyway this is a great article I found on Yahoo News on 15.01.06. Usually In the Middle East you hear of Fake Sheiks high earning incomes from oil revenue, or in the past the amount of debt they occured whilst gambling in a Casino or the amount of wives they married but this is different...

By DIANA ELIAS, Associated Press Writer Mon Jan 15, 2006

KUWAIT CITY - A court has convicted a member of Kuwait's ruling family for drug trafficking and it condemned him to death, according to a ruling obtained Monday.

It is believed to be the first time that a member of a ruling family in one of the Gulf A
rab states received the death sentence for a drug offense.

The crimes of Sheik Talal Nasser Al Sabah "threatened society ... especially young people," who bought hashish and cocaine from him, Judge Humoud al-Mutawah said in his verdict Sunday.

Sheik Talal had "willingly walked the path of evil" and "deserved no mercy," al-Mutawah said.

It was not immediately clear how closely related Sheik Talal is to the head of the ruling family, which has hundreds of members.

Prominent criminal lawyer Najib al-Wugayyan hailed the verdict and sentence. "This is a magnificent indication to all that nobody is above the law," he said.

The judgment can be appealed.

The panel of three judges also found Sheik Talal guilty of laundering the money he made from trafficking, and illegal possession of two pistols and a shotgun.

The court said hashish and cocaine were found at his home, along with scales and a mixer used to prepare the drugs for sale.

In addition to the death sentence, the court fined Sheik Talal $35,000 for drug trafficking.

For illegal possession of firearms, the court sentenced him to three years in jail. And for laundering about $3 million from the trafficking, the court sentenced him to seven years' imprisonment and ordered him to pay an identical sum as a fine.

The laundering was done by investing the money in real estate in Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates.

Sheik Talal's lawyer could not be reached for comment.

The court convicted three of Sheik Talal's associates — Faisal al-Enezi, Amirulislam Ali and Abdullah Shignab — of drug trafficking and sentenced them to life imprisonment.

Two other associates — Tazhi Hamed and Fadi Habash — were sentenced to seven years in jail each for money-laundering. The court also ordered them each to pay $3 million in fines — the same amount as imposed on Sheik Talal.