21 January 2004	Wednesday	28 Ziqa'ad 1424

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 20: A Pakistani drug dealer was hanged publicly on Tuesday after being convicted of possessing and selling heroin in Kuwait.

Fazal Shirin, son of Mohammad Sharif, who belonged to the Kanjora Kalanga village in Khyber Agency, was arrested at his home in 2001 with 81 packets of heroin. He was sentenced to death by a criminal court and the appeals court upheld the verdict.

Fazal, 35, was hanged behind closed doors and, after he was pronounced dead, some 300 male spectators were allowed to view his dangling, limp body. The convict took 20 minutes to die, Kuwait's public prosecutor Najeeb al-Mulla told reporters.