KUWAIT CITY: An Egyptian man accused of raping up to 20 children in Kuwait denied all charges in court Tuesday telling the judge he had confessed under torture. Jihad Al-Saadi, 27, who was arrested in July just before boarding a flight to Egypt, made his first appearance in criminal court where he faces the death penalty for abduction and rape. Saadi s lawyer Baker Al-Naimi, hired by his relatives in Egypt, told reporters he would ask the court at the next hearing on Sept. 18 to refer the accused for a psychiatric examination. After his arrest, Kuwaiti police said that Saadi confessed to raping 17 children in Hawalli, a residential district 12 km south of Kuwait City. Saadi had earned the nickname Hawalli monster after a spate of rapes of boys and girls aged 10 years and younger in the district. No such cases have been reported for the past six months.
