QATAR. APPEAL COURT OVERTURNS DEATH SENTENCE

May 12, 2008: the Criminal Court of Appeal in Qatar acquitted a resident of charges of murder and setting a house on fire. A lower court had earlier found him guilty of these charges and sentenced him to death by hanging or shooting.
The case continued for four years. The court was headed by Judge Ibrahim Salih Al Nasef. In 2004, the police filed a case against the defendant with four charges. The first one being setting a house on fire using petrol; the second one for killing a person at night; the third charge was for murder attempt on three people who managed to escape, and finally, damaging property.
In 2006, the Criminal Court indicted and sentenced the defendant to death and its verdict was based on evidences collected by the police, the public prosecution and the criminal laboratory report which stated that the accused person was carrying with him keys of the property.
The Court said that evidence provided by the public prosecution was not enough, and it doubted the truth of the witness testimonies. (Sources: The Peninsula, 12/05/2008)