LEBANON:The Arab world is waiting to see whether Talal Nasser al-Sabah will be pardoned, writes Raed Rafeiin Beirut
IT WAS an open-and-shut case. Kuwaiti police showed up at the dealer's house and seized more than 9.9kg (22lb) of cocaine and 74.8kg (165lb) of hashish. The suspect was accused of drug trafficking and, a few months later, sentenced to death.
But the convicted drug dealer, Talal Nasser al-Sabah, was no ordinary Kuwaiti - he was a member of the Persian Gulf kingdom's ruling family. Now everyone is watching to see whether the authorities will follow through on the ruling by the judiciary, or grant al-Sabah the immunity considered a right by royal families throughout the gulf region.
Royal clans dominate the political and economic lives of oil-rich kingdoms. It is uncommon to see a royal behind bars, let alone on death row. But Kuwait has experimented with democracy in ways that distinguish it from its neighbours, which mostly have autocratic political systems.
Nowadays, members of the al-Sabah ruling family get traffic tickets and have been jailed for alleged corruption, said Abdullah al-Ayoub, a lawyer in Kuwait. "There is no immunity for members of the ruling family just for the reason that they are part of this family," he said.
In June, Kuwait's supreme court upheld the death sentence against al-Sabah, who is in his 50s. His conviction late in 2007 by a lower criminal court was the first such case against a member of the royal family in Kuwait.
Despite the ruling, al-Sabah still could benefit from the amnesty of Kuwait's ruler, Emir Sabah IV al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah. The emir has the authority to call off the execution.
Although the emir, or prince, enjoys vast political powers, they are not unchecked: A National Assembly elected by the people every four years has the authority to hold the government accountable. Women also have been allowed to vote and run for office since 2005. Several ministers, some members of the royal family, were forced to resign under popular pressure. The democratic steps have raised eyebrows in the rest of the Persian Gulf.
"Rulers of these states fear the pace of democracy in Kuwait might at the end affect their power," said Mohammed al-Rumaihi, editor of the Kuwaiti newspaper Awan and a former adviser to the government. "For them, the Kuwaiti phenomenon is like a plague that needs to be contained." Al-Sabah's case was viewed as a test of sorts, to see whether the country's rampant nepotism can trump the independence of the judiciary.
This wasn't the first time al-Sabah had fallen foul of the law. He also was jailed in Egypt for drug possession. Al-Sabah has said he hopes his connections will save him from the gallows. He told a newspaper that leading members of the ruling family had intervened with the emir. He also has pleaded with the emir to commute his death sentence. "I am drug-addicted and I am getting cured," he said in an interview from prison published in the newspaper Al Jareeda. "I don't deal," he said. - (LA Times-Washington Post service)