Kuwait hangs four Pakistanis convicted of drug trafficking

Kuwait on Sunday hanged four Pakistani men convicted of trafficking in drugs, and let the public view their bodies as they suspended from the gallows.

A Justice Ministry statement identified the men as Mohammed Ahmed Khan, 33, Abdul-Basir Abudl-Hai Mohammed Ishaq, 50, Faz Mohammed Youssef Khan, 32, and Sayyed Modather Shah Hikmat, 26.

Criminal courts found them guilty of smuggling heroine by swallowing capsules that contained the drug. Customs officials at the Kuwait International Airport suspected them of smuggling as they entered the country on different dates in 2002 with forged passports, the ministry said.

Two appeals courts upheld the rulings, which were later approved by the emir, Sheik Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah. Sunday's hanging raised the number of traffickers executed in this small oil-rich nation to 10 this year.

For more than two decades, executions were carried out at Kuwait's central prison. But in 2002, officials decided to let the public see bodies of hanged convicts in the hope they would serve as a crime deterrent, AP reports.