Ex-MP Papul sentenced to 7 years in jail for human trafficking

Kuwait's top appeals court has sentenced ex-Bangladeshi lawmaker Mohammed Shahid Islam Papul to seven years in prison in a high-profile human trafficking case, reports Gulf News.

The court fined the convict of KD2.7 million.

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

The court also handed down similar jail terms to Kuwaiti undersecretary of the Kuwaiti interior ministry Maj. Gen. Mazen Al Jarrah and Hassan Al Khedr, a manpower director; and ordered their sacking from their government posts on charges of bribery in the same case.

Last February this year, a Kuwaiti criminal court sentenced Papul to four years in prison and ordered him to pay a fine of KD1.9 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.