KUWAIT CITY // The Court of Appeals yesterday upheld a death sentence against the woman found guilty of starting a fire at the wedding tent celebration of her husband's second wife last year, killing 57 women and children.
Families of the victims used the increased media interest in the trial this week to ask the government to provide more money and better medical care for their relatives.
Scores more women and children were injured when the packed tent burned down in the tribal area of Jahra in August, leaving a pile of charred bodies where the partygoers had died in a scramble for the door.
"Of course I'm disappointed, this is not what I was expecting," said Zaid al Khabbaz, the lawyer of the accused woman, Nasra al Enezi, after the judge, Faisal Khuraibet, confirmed the death sentence.
The Court of First Instance had sentenced Ms al Enezi to death - which is by hanging in Kuwait - in March. She was not present to hear the judge's ruling in the Court of Appeals, but her lawyer vowed to fight on in the Supreme Court.
Mr al Khabbaz said the woman did not start the fire or douse the tent with a flammable liquid, and a previous confession linking her to the fire was made under duress.
The lawyer said there was no material evidence to convict the woman, who was 23 at the time, and expected the charges of premeditated murder and starting a fire with the intent to kill to be reduced to manslaughter and the woman to receive a jail sentence of between 15 years and life.
Partygoers in the tent were celebrating the marriage of Ms al Enezi's husband to a second wife. It was erected on a patch of land in a housing estate surrounded by buildings with one small exit, conditions that the defence believes contributed to the high death toll. The fire led to a government clamp down on illegally pitched tents.
After the disaster, the emir announced that each of the families of the deceased would receive 10,000 Kuwaiti dinars (Dh126,000) and of the injured, 5,000 dinars, and noted that the country's generous welfare system provides nationals with free medical care in Kuwait and money for treatment abroad.
But the families of the injured said at a press gathering in Jahra on Tuesday that many have still not received the money and are waiting for permission from the ministry of health to send their relatives overseas.
"We didn't see any money for the injured. So far, it's just talking," said Hayel al Shammari, 33, whose mother and sister-in-law died in the fire. Mr al Shammari's two sisters were also left with burns to nearly 50 per cent burns of their bodies and his deceased sister-in-law's son, Waheed, 4, has severe burns covering his body and head and suffers from psychological trauma.
Waheed underwent three months of treatment in a Lebanese hospital, which was paid for by the ministry of defence because his father works there. Mr al Shammari said the boy still needs plastic surgery in Europe.
Other families were not as fortunate in their treatment options. Faris abu Naif, a paramedic whose wife was injured in the fire and is still afraid of the smell of cigarettes or coals, has been trying to gather the names of the victims who are dispersed throughout Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to collectively ask their governments for assistance.
Mr abu Naif said the services in Kuwaiti government hospitals are below that of private hospitals, and the waiting times are so long that he still spends much of his time seeking treatment for his wife.
He said he is still waiting for the ministry of health to give him permission to get government-funded treatment overseas.
"Now we're fighting for the rights of the victims. We search on the internet for the best hospitals in the world. They are in places like Germany and France, but they are very expensive. We need hotels and translators," he said.
"We are tribal, we have our dignity and we can't ask for money - but right now we have no choice. The Kuwaiti government should not forget the victims and they should help us out with money."
The ministry of health was unavailable for comment about the treatment of the fire's victims.
Despite their horrific injuries, and lost friends and relatives, those who were linked with the disaster are divided on what punishment is suitable for the woman who has been found guilty. When asked if he wanted the woman to be executed, Mr al Shammari said: "Look at my nephew. What do you think? We have to react."
But on hearing the outcome of the woman's second trial, Mr abu Naif's wife, Umm Naif, said even though she was happy when she heard Ms al Enezi had been sentenced to death in the first trial, she now believes that a woman should not be hanged in Kuwait.
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Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Washmen Profile
Date Started: May 2015
Founders: Rami Shaar and Jad Halaoui
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Laundry
Employees: 170
Funding: about $8m
Funders: Addventure, B&Y Partners, Clara Ventures, Cedar Mundi Partners, Henkel Ventures
Tuesday's fixtures
Kyrgyzstan v Qatar, 5.45pm
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
WWE Evolution results
- Trish Stratus and Lita beat Alicia Fox and Mickie James in a tag match
- Nia Jax won a battle royal, eliminating Ember Moon last to win
- Toni Storm beat Io Shirai to win the Mae Young Classic
- Natalya, Sasha Banks and Bayley beat The Riott Squad in a six-woman tag match
- Shayna Baszler won the NXT Women’s title by defeating Kairi Sane
- Becky Lynch retained the SmackDown Women’s Championship against Charlotte Flair in a Last Woman Standing match
- Ronda Rousey retained the Raw Women’s title by beating Nikki Bella
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Terminator: Dark Fate
Director: Tim Miller
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Mackenzie Davis
Rating: 3/5
