lindfolded, his hands bound, a condemned prisoner puffs desperately on a final cigarette.
Just a few minutes later he and two others are led up a short flight of stairs, nooses are placed around their necks before a trapdoor opens beneath their feet. This is justice Kuwait-style.
The Gulf-Arab state hanged three convicted murderers today, the first executions to take place there since 2007, state news agency KUNA reported.
Sentenced to death: Three men hang from the scaffolding in Kuwait in the first executions in the country since 2007
Sentenced to death: Three men hang from the scaffolding in Kuwait in the first executions in the country since 2007
Last cigarette: A Saudi man is allowed a final smoke before being led to the gallows
Final minutes: One of the three convicted murderers is seen before being led to his death
The three were a Pakistani, a Saudi and a stateless man who were hooded and bound before being hung from gallows outside the Central Prison, official pictures showed.
They had been found guilty in three separate murder cases. Authorities had invited journalists from Kuwaiti publications to witness the executions.
The last recorded case of the death penalty being carried out in Kuwait was six years ago when a Pakistani man was executed for drug trafficking, according to Amnesty International.
No escape: The Saudi prisoner is held by two executioners as he puffs on his final cigarette
The sentenced prisoner is pictured blindfolded and smoking as he led away to his execution
Final minutes: Two of the three men are walked up on to the scaffolding platform to their execution
Kuwait, which has a population of around three and a half million people, operates a judicial system which is a mixture of Islamic Sharia law, English common law, and the Ottoman civil code.
The state carried out 72 executions (69 men and three women) between April 1964 and May 2007.
Crimes that carry the death sentence include drug trafficking, murder and treason. Sentences are not carried out publically however members of the media act as witnesses and pictures are published in the hope it will act as a deterrent
KUNA said 48 people remain on death row in Kuwait.
A medic prepares to examine one of the executed men to confirm sentence has been carried out
Medics check one of the executed men to ensure his heart has stopped
Lifeless: Undertakers arrive to remove the bodies of the three men
|No escape: The feet of two of the men are seen dangling above the ground after the sentence was carried out
An executioner, his hand still on the handle that operates the trap door through which the prisoner falls to his death, looks down with a colleague at the lifeless body
Facebook has started charging users up to 10 to message celebrities and others outside their circle of friends.
Under the trial scheme, it costs 71p to send a standard message on the social networking site.
But the fees vary depending on the popularity of the recipient, with a current maximum charge of 10.68 to contact celebrities such as Olympic diver Tom Daley.
Popular: It will cost users more to send a message to the young Olympic diver via Facebook than to less popular, or non-celebrity users
It puts him a tier above U.S. gangster rapper Snoop Dogg and Booker prize-winning author Salman Rushdie, both of whom cost 10.08 to message.
And in what may cause some embarrassment, many well-known figures such as broadcaster Louis Theroux and comedian Miranda Hart can currently be contacted for the standard charge of 71p.
The fee structure is decided by a mathematical formula that takes into account a number of factors, including the number of followers a user has on Facebook and how many messages they receive.
Charges to contact somebody using the system can rise and fall under the system.
The fees were introduced for 10 per cent of British users as a trial at the end of last month with the plan to introduce it to all members of Facebook in the country.
The company said that the paid for 'priority messages' were intended to stop users from being bombarded with unwanted contact from strangers
But Facebook faced criticism yesterday after details of the costs became known, especially because it has boasted that 'the site is 'free and always will be'.
Peter Wood, social media director at digital marketing agency Steak, tweeted: 'Facebook charging users in the UK to contact celebs online. 1-0 Twitter. Seems a bit mean to charge someone to send fan mail.'
Users who are Facebook friends or who share mutual friends are still able to keep in contact with no charge.
There is also a cap on the number of paid messages any user can receive.
Messages are sent directly to a recipient's inbox on their profile page.
Those who don't want to pay are still able to send a message, but these are not put into the recipients inbox but another box called in the "other folder" that most people rarely check and many don't even know about.
The charge can be paid online instantly with a credit or debit.
Under-18s are barred from making such payments and are also blocked from receiving unsolicited messages.
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Users in the US are charged $1, $5 or $15 to send a priority message.
Facebook scrapped a $100 fee to contact the most prominent celebrities after it was mocked for applying the charge to contact the company's founder, Mark Zuckerberg.
In Britain questions were also raised over the charging formulae after it emerged that one of those who it is most expensive to contact is Michael Rosen, the former children's laureate.
Users are also being charged the maximum 10.68 to contact a fake Facebook account set up in the name of singer Ed Sheeran.
Facebook said: 'The system of paying to message non-friends in their Facebook inbox is designed to prevent spam, while acknowledging that sometimes you might want to hear from people outside your immediate social circle.
'We are testing a number of price points in the UK and other countries to establish the optimal fee that signals importance. Part of that test involves charging higher amounts for public figures, based on the number of followers they have.
'This is still a test and these prices are not set in stone.'
Scrapped: Facebook had planned to charge a $100 fee to contact the most prominent celebrities but was mocked for applying the charge to contact the company's founder, Mark Zuckerberg
Adds up: The fee structure is decided by a mathematical formula that takes into account the number of followers a user has on Facebook
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