A final cigarette... then the hangman's noose: Three men put to death in Kuwaiti car park in country's first execution in six years

Blindfolded, his hands bound, a condemned prisoner puffs desperately on a final cigarette.
Just a few minutes later he and two others are led up a short flight of stairs, nooses are placed around their necks before a trapdoor opens beneath their feet. This is justice Kuwait-style.
The Gulf-Arab state hanged three convicted murderers today, the first executions to take place there since 2007, state news agency KUNA reported.

Sentenced to death: Three men hang from the scaffolding in Kuwait in the first executions in the country since 2007

Last cigarette: A Saudi man is allowed a final smoke before being led to the gallows

Final minutes: One of the three convicted murderers is seen before being led to his death

The three were a Pakistani, a Saudi and a stateless man who were hooded and bound before being hung from gallows outside the Central Prison, official pictures showed.

 

They had been found guilty in three separate murder cases. Authorities had invited journalists from Kuwaiti publications to witness the executions.
The last recorded case of the death penalty being carried out in Kuwait was six years ago when a Pakistani man was executed for drug trafficking, according to Amnesty International.

No escape: The Saudi prisoner is held by two executioners as he puffs on his final cigarette

The sentenced prisoner is pictured blindfolded and smoking as he led away to his execution

Final minutes: Two of the three men are walked up on to the scaffolding platform to their execution

Kuwait, which has a population of around three and a half million people, operates a judicial system which is a mixture of Islamic Sharia law, English common law, and the Ottoman civil code.

The state carried out 72 executions (69 men and three women) between April 1964 and May 2007.

Crimes that carry the death sentence include drug trafficking, murder and treason. Sentences are not carried out publically however members of the media act as witnesses and pictures are published in the hope it will act as a deterrent
KUNA said 48 people remain on death row in Kuwait.

A medic prepares to examine one of the executed men to confirm sentence has been carried out

Medics check one of the executed men to ensure his heart has stopped

Lifeless: Undertakers arrive to remove the bodies of the three men

|No escape: The feet of two of the men are seen dangling above the ground after the sentence was carried out

An executioner, his hand still on the handle that operates the trap door through which the prisoner falls to his death, looks down with a colleague at the lifeless body