KUWAIT CITY (AFP) - A Kuwaiti appeals court on Wednesday (May 31) sentenced seven men to death for the abduction and rape of a disabled 13-year-old boy, the victim's lawyer said.

Ibrahim al-Bathani told AFP that the court overturned a 10-year jail term handed in April by a lower court against the seven accused.

He said the seven defendants, aged 18-23, abducted the victim in September last year to a chalet where they sexually assaulted him.

The victim is a Kuwaiti citizen suffering from partial mental disability, the lawyer said.

"This is a historic verdict," Bathani said.

The convicts, four Kuwaitis, a Yemeni, an Iraqi and a stateless person, filmed part of the rape and threatened to post it on social media if the boy spoke of his ordeal, Bathani said.

Prosecutors found the videos on the phones of some of the defendants.

The ruling is not final as the case must go to the Kuwaiti supreme court whose verdicts are final.

The death penalty in Kuwait is carried out by hanging.