Authorities in Kuwait executed seven people on Wednesday, including Kuwaiti prince Faisal Abudallah Al Jaber Al Sabah. These are the first executions [BBC report] in the country since 2013. Al Sabah was convicted for premeditated murder in the death of another Kuwaiti prince in 2010. Most of the other prisoners were also convicted of murder [AP report], although one man was convicted of rape, kidnapping and theft. One prisoner, Nusra al-Enezi, was convicted of killing of more than 50 people after setting fire to a wedding tent. Those executed included nationals from Bangladesh, Egypt, Ethiopia and the Philippines.

These executions were the first in the country since 2013, when officials hanged three men for murder charges. Prior to the 2013 executions, Kuwait had gone nearly six years without an execution. The 2013 executions prompted Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] to criticize the Kuwaiti government, saying [JURIST report] that “[i]n a region where executions are sadly all too commonplace, Kuwait marked a beacon of hope by declining to execute people for almost six years. That hope has been extinguished today.” These deaths also come just days after authorities in Bahrain ordered [JURIST report] its first executions in nearly six years. Last week, AI also called on Bahrain to commute the death sentences [JURIST report] of two other prisoners.