Hanging Around In Kuwait

My first trip to Kuwait came in January of this year when I visited Kuwait City (the capital) on business. (The region is not well known for the originality of thought that goes into the naming of some of its cities . . .).

We had been warned on arrival at the airport that a black sedan filled with insurgents had been driving around the centre of town shooting westerners indiscriminately (and with some small success) . . . which was obviously what I was dying to hear on the occasion of my first visit to the country.

On enquiring of my local colleague where we were to stay, he informed me that our hotel was in the centre of the city, precisely where the insurgents and their little black car had been all day long. Great news.

I was then advised not to worry as there were two large tanks and an armoured vehicle with a large machine gun outside the hotel. (So no sea view for us then!)

This was all on top of the really rather more important issue of Kuwait being dry with nothing more fortifying than a Diet 7 Up to get us through the evening. . . what joy!

The night passed without incident (or alcohol) and the insurgents were apparently rounded up by the police and taken to jail. There was a gunfight with police during their arrest where some of them were killed - the others were not so lucky and are due to stand trial later this year. The death penalty was recently called for in this instance by the Kuwaiti authorities. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch.

(On this subject, Hosni Mubarek's Egyptian Government (this last word is commonly replaced with the old fashioned word "D^ct@torsh%p" for people of a more politically astute nature) recently announced that the leader of one of the "opposition" parties who had been imprisoned for sedition, had committed suicide in jail. Apparently, according to the official police report, he had gone quite mad and repeatedly ran at the wall of his cell with his head bowed until his injuries resulted in fatality. Hmmm!)

Anyway!

At breakfast in the hotel lobby, I decided, as is my habit while traveling, to peruse the local newspaper to discover a little more about Kuwaiti life.

The headline of the front page of the English language edition was "Two Pakistanis Swing". This was not referring to a popular dance music culture of the 20th century, but rather to a public hanging which had been held the previous day.

I quickly turned to page two and was staggered to see some 7-8 photographs of the dead torsos in glorious technicolor - courtesy of the "Hanging Photocall" that had kindly been arranged by the authorities. Nice touch.

I started to read the accompanying article. The two men had been executed early in the morning in front of a select band of onlookers and Kuwait officials. The first had died instantly as his head had detached itself immediately when the trap door was released, the other dying after six minutes. Photographers had been asked not to take pictures of the detached head. (Have to draw a line somewhere I suppose).

Great concern was voiced regarding the nature of the detached head and authorities apparently were worried that some would see this as suspicious. Consequently an investigation was immediately launched into why the head had come off prisoner number one so quickly. In a sidebar to the main article the reader was treated to the truth . . .

The fault obviously lay in the hanging rope that was used. Apparently Kuwait had for many years imported its hanging rope from the Great Britain, a country which I learnt had a worldwide reputation as a supplier of fine hanging rope.

British hanging rope offers superior quality, strength and storage characteristics which make it the preferred choice when it comes to old fashioned execution. The problem lay in the fact that the UK supplies of quality hanging rope have recently dried up, forcing the poor executioners to turn to the far inferior, but cheaper and more widely available Egyptian hanging rope (demand for which is no doubt driven by the democratic government of Egypt!). Egyptian rope apparently does not store well, causing it to dry and become brittle. In some cases, as in this particular instance, this can cause decapitation.

I was glad to learn that there was yet another thing that Britain used to excel at and which now it no longer did, and fascinated to learn something of the history of hanging rope. But what was more interesting than all of this was the impression I was left with after reading the article and enjoying the nice pictures over a cappucino and croissant.

I was initially horrified at the apparent barbarity of this act of capital punishment and indeed the article which covered it. Lots of nice prejudices began entering my brain regarding the Middle East and the stereotypical associations many in the West have about the region. However, after some moment's reflection, I began to see things slightly differently.

Kuwait has had legislation for capital punishment since 1995. Since the laws were passed, only six people (prior to these two individuals) have been executed. All for drugs offences.

The two men executed the previous day had been found smuggling large quantities of heroin and hashish into Kuwait and were convicted by a court of law and sentenced to death. While questioning once more the merits or otherwise of capital punishment, it struck me that the smuggling and subsequent peddling of drugs causes large amounts of pain and indeed death and therefore the punishment seemed somewhat fair. I was still left with the impression that this was a somewhat brutal approach, until I recalled something else . . .

The USA, that global beacon of democracy and civility which all other countries and states try to model themselves, is lead by a President who, when governor of Texas, signed more death warrants than any of his predecessors. (Texas, of course, being the state which executes more people annually than all of the rest of the world put together.)

This would be the same President who brutalised a nation in the name of freedom (Iraq), and felt nothing when thousands of innocents were killed by his overzealous, young and inexperienced soldiers. (I had a member of my staff whose uncle was blown up and killed in Baghdad by American soldiers who "got the wrong house". His crime was eating lunch with his family.)

The same President who gained re-election on a campaign fuelled by right wing Christian fundamentalism and fear, but who denounces some other religions and their supporters as evil and talks about "crusades".

So brutality has many different faces. Us Westerners will all too easily jump to stereotype based on media pronunciations, prejudice and ignorance. It is a shame that many do not take the trouble to see the other side of the picture and indeed learn a little more about other people's opinions.

Did you know that 80% of the staff at Al Jazeera are ex BBC and were trained by the Corporation to exactly the same standards as the journalists you watch on television every night on the 9 o'clock news. They formed Al Jazeera when the BBC, in its wisdom, decided to shut down the BBC Middle Eastern department -presumably to fund more shows of Noel's House Party or documentaries on the rights of crack addicted, unemployed single mothers with criminal records.

Back to the story!

The article concluded with the dying wishes of the two prisoners. The first requested that his body be returned to Pakistan for burial. The second requested a water cooler to be installed at the prison where he had come from. Bizarre!

An altruistic act which he could surely never benefit from. Each to their own!

I left Kuwait later that day to fly to Qatar where I encountered the world's largest cigar, the most expensive flower arrangement ever and a host of other interesting things which will be relayed in a future entry, together with the tales from Tehran and the encounter with the Reindeer of Riyadh . . .

Until then, and in the words of late, great Dave Allen, may your God be with you . . .

First thoughts

My very first thoughts about web logging or blogging are that this will be a convenient and easy way to share updates with friends and family around the world.

I live in Dubai in the UAE, my family are in the UK, US, Greece and elsewhere, and my friends are spread all over the world.

I will use this web log to share some of my thoughts and experiences (and maybe a few photos!) as I get settled into a new country, region, culture and language (Yup! Arabic is the next language to be attempted).

Selfishly (although highly practically!) I will be able to keep whomever is interested updated with my goings on without having to stop and contact everyone individually. Time shortage is a significant problem for me in my job and this will help me economise on time and still keep in touch.

So here goes!

XENOS DXB