Doha: A criminal court in Qatar has sentenced four Keralites to death for killing a Yemeni gold trader.

K Ashfeer, Anees, Rashid Kuniyil and T Shammas, one to four of the 27 Malayalis accused, have been sentenced to death in the case. All the four belong to Mattannur in Kannur.

Some of the other accused have been sentenced to five years, two years and six months in prison. A few of the accused have been released. The details of the verdict and the accused were not available.

The incident took place in June 2019. The case was that the sleeping trader was killed by Ashfeer and his accomplices and that gold and money were looted and sent home to Kerala. Three of the 27 main suspects left Qatar before being arrested.