Kuwait court jails Papul for 7 years for human trafficking

Kuwait’s top appeals court has sentenced Kazi Shahid Islam Papul, a former lawmaker of Laxmipur-2 constituency, to seven years in prison and ordered him to pay a fine of Kuwaiti Dinar (KD) 2.7 million (Tk 76.5 crore) in a human trafficking case, Gulf News reports citing Kuwaiti media.

The Court of Cassation also ordered the defendant be deported after serving the sentence.

The court also handed down similar jail terms to Kuwaiti Undersecretary of the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry Major General Mazen Al Jarrah and Hassan Al Khedr, a manpower director;

The court ordered their sacking from their government posts on charges of bribery in the same case.

The court, moreover, sentenced ex-Kuwaiti parliamentarian Salah Khurshed to seven years in prison and ordered him to pay a fine of KD 7,40,000.

The rulings are final, the report said.

Last February, a Kuwaiti criminal court sentenced Papul to four years in prison and ordered him to pay a fine of KD 1.9 million.

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

He has reportedly amassed KD5 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.