Kuwait hangs seven, including royal, in mass execution

The prisoners were convicted of various offences,
 including murder, kidnapping and rape.

Kuwait has hanged seven prisoners, including a royal 
family member, according to a statement carried by the 
state-funded KUNA news agency.

The hangings on Wednesday were the first executions in 
the oil-rich Gulf state since mid-2013.

Those executed included two Kuwaitis, two Egyptians,
 a Bangladeshi, a Filipina and an Ethiopian. They 
were convicted of offences ranging from murder, 
attempted murder, kidnapping and rape.

The Kuwaiti government identified the royal as Sheikh
 Faysal Abdullah Al Jaber Al Sabah and said he was
 convicted of premeditated murder and illegal possession 
of a firearm. Nusra al-Enezi, the other Kuwaiti, was  convicted of setting fire to a tent in 2009 during a wedding party for
 her husband, killing around 57 people, including women 
and children.

It was an apparent act of revenge against her husband
 for taking a second wife.

The Filipina and Ethiopian women were domestic helpers
convicted of murdering members of their employers'
 families in two unrelated crimes.

The two Egyptians were convicted of premeditated 
murders, while the Bangladeshi was convicted of abduction and rape.

In the Philippines, authorities had earlier identified the
 Filipina hanged as Jakatia Pawa, who was convicted of
 killing her employer's 22-year old daughter in 2007.

In an interview with ABS-CBN television, Charles Jose, 
a spokesman for the department of foreign affairs, said
 the Philippine government pursued diplomatic, political 
and religious channels to free Pawa.

Pawa's brother, Gary Pawa, told the Associated Press
 news agency that his sister had called early on Wednesday
morning, crying as she informed him of her scheduled
execution.

She asked him to take care of her two children.

In a separate interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, 
Pawa said the execution came as a shock as they were hoping that his sister would be home soon.

He said his sister was innocent.

The last known executions to be carried out in Kuwait
 were in 2013, when a Pakistani, a Saudi and a "Bidoon",
 or man without citizenship in the emirate, were hung.