Kuwait sentences ex-MP Papul to 7 years in jail

A top appeals court in Kuwait has sentenced former Bangladeshi lawmaker Shahid Islam Papul to seven years in jail.

The court came up with verdict today ordering the ex-lawmaker to pay a fine of KD (Kuwaiti dinar) 2.7 million in a case filed for human trafficking. The court said: “The defendant be deported after serving the sentence.”

According to the Gulf News, the court also handed down seven years’ imprisonment to ex-Kuwaiti parliamentarian Salah Khurshed and ordered him to pay a fine of KD 740,000.

Meanwhile, the court handed down similar jail terms to the undersecretary of the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry Maj Gen Mazen Al Jarrah and Hassan Al Khedr, a manpower director, and ordered their termination from their respective government posts on charges of bribery in the same case.

A Kuwaiti criminal court in February sentenced the ex-Bangladeshi lawmaker to four years in prison and ordered him to pay a fine of KD1.9 million

He was charged with receiving money from dozens of workers to bring them in from Bangladesh to Kuwait through a company he managed with illegal assistance from the Kuwaiti officials charged in the case.

Papul reportedly amassed KD 5 million worth of assets in the Gulf country.

The Kuwaiti public prosecution contested the rulings handed down to the prime defendant and convicted accomplices and demanded tougher penalties.