Kuwait Postpones Verdict on Bush Death Plot
KUWAIT CITY — A verdict against 14 Iraqis and Kuwaitis charged with plotting to assassinate former President George Bush was postponed Saturday by a court seeking more evidence from a key witness.
Judge Salah Fahad, president of the three-member state security court, said the tribunal wants to reconvene Feb. 5 to further question Abdul Samad Shatti, the state security officer who headed the investigation.
“There are points the court would like explained,” Fahad said, adding that the points pertain to the roles played by the defendants.
No date was set for a new verdict. The court began hearing the case June 5.
Prosecutors charge that most of the accused were Iraqi intelligence operatives sent with explosives to kill Bush during an April visit.
Kuwait said it foiled the alleged plot by seizing the charge one day before Bush arrived to be honored for ending Saddam Hussein’s 1990-91 occupation of Kuwait.
Iraq has denied mounting any assassination plot.
All but one of the defendants, an Iraqi, have pleaded innocent. The one who pleaded guilty said he received orders and explosives from Iraqi intelligence agents.
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