General
U.A.E. Sentences Three People to Death for Killing an Israeli Rabbi
Emirati authorities decided on a punishment for the “premeditated murder with terrorist intention” of Rabbi Zvi Kogan but offered no details about the crime.
The United Arab Emirates on Monday sentenced three people to death for the abduction and killing of an Israeli Moldovan rabbi last November, a case that raised concerns about the safety of the country’s small but growing Jewish community.
The U.A.E.’s state news agency, WAM, reported that the Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeals’ State Security Chamber decided on the death penalty for the “premeditated murder with terrorist intention” of Rabbi Zvi Kogan.
A fourth person was sentenced for aiding in the crime — in what way the government did not say — to a prison term, followed by deportation from the country. The defendant was sentenced to life in prison, but typically that means being released after 20 years or more.
The authorities did not disclose the identities of those sentenced, but the U.A.E. Interior Ministry previously identified three people accused of murder as Olimboy Tohirovich and Makhmudjon Abdurakhim, both 28, and Azizbek Kamilovich, 33, all Uzbek nationals. State media released photos of them, blindfolded and shackled at the wrists and ankles, after their extradition from Turkey.
“The defendants had tracked and murdered the victim,” WAM said in its report on Monday. “The evidence presented by the State Security Prosecution to the court included the defendants’ detailed confessions to the crimes of murder and kidnapping, along with forensic reports, post-mortem examination findings, details of the instruments used in the crime and witness testimonies.”
The report did not quote the authorities offering a motive for the murder of Rabbi Kogan, 28, or any further details about how he was kidnapped and later killed.
