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| Arabia |
| Australian held on terror charges |
| 2005-09-20 |
| AN Australian man charged with being a member of a terrorist group is due to reappear in a Kuwait court this weekend, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) says. Sydney businessman Tallaal Adrey, 30, is accused of running guns across the border from Iraq and being involved in a terror group known as the Peninsula Lions, whose members were involved in a deadly gun battle with Kuwaiti police in January. A DFAT spokeswoman told AAP today Adrey and 33 other suspects were scheduled to reappear in a Kuwait court on Saturday. "The court has adjourned until September 24," the spokeswoman said. Adrey's lawyer Stephen Kenny said last month the charges were false and that his client had returned to Kuwait with his wife and three children to care for his sick elderly mother. He says Adrey's name was given to Kuwaiti police by one of the men arrested after the gunfight. Mr Kenny also said Adrey had gone on a hunger strike after accusing police of torturing him by pulling out his fingernails and shackling him to HIV-infected prisoners. The Kuwaiti judge has reportedly ordered the claims to be independently investigated. Parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs Bruce Billson said in July that consular officials had sought an investigation into Adrey's treatment after finding during a visit that he had fingernail damage. The Australian government has received conflicting advice about whether Adrey, who moved to Australia in 1997 and became a citizen, could receive the death penalty if convicted. The DFAT spokeswoman said consular officials had been told by a legal representative of Adrey that he would not face execution if found guilty on any or all of the charges. But the Australian consulate had also received advice from Kuwaiti authorities that they were seeking the death penalty for all of those charged. "We've had differing advice," the spokeswoman said. The January gunfight left four police dead and 10 other people wounded. Eight militants were killed in the fighting while Amer Khlaif al-Enezi, the alleged leader of the Peninsula Lions, which has al-Qaeda links, died in police detention eight days after his arrest. |
| Posted by:Groluns Snoluter6338 |