Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Abu Dhabi: The State Security Court at the Federal Supreme Court received medical reports on Monday which stated that Alaa Al Hashemi, who is accused of murdering an American teacher in an Abu Dhabi mall, is in perfect mental health and is fully conscious of her actions.
The court adjourned the case to June 8 to listen to the defence lawyer, with the defendant set to remain in jail.
During the session, presided over by Judge Falah Al Hajiri, the court heard a 50-minute testimony from prosecution that included video footage of the defendant confessing to her crime, and footage of the crime scene at the washroom in Reem Island’s Boutiq Mall.
The court also examined medical reports presented by a team from Shaikh Khalifa Medical Centre showing that the defendant, accused of murdering the American teacher Ibolya Ryan, is mentally fit, which means that she committed the murder in a fully conscious state.
The defendant had earlier claimed she was possessed by a jinn (evil spirit), and that she was mentally unstable.
The public prosecution accused the Emirati defendant of trying to spread fear among the community through the murder, and planting a homemade bomb in front of an American doctor’s apartment by the Corniche.
The prosecution also accused the defendant of following radical ideologies by terrorist organisations such as Daesh and Al Qaida by creating a website under another name, Salma Bin Al Ikow, which promotes such ideologies.
The defendant is said to have used the website, titled Jihadi Islamic Forum, to communicate with members of terrorist organisations. The website has speeches by terrorists like Osama Bin Laden and Abu Musab Al Zarqawi that urge people to fight. Upon examination of her computer, the prosecution said that the defendant was influenced by the ideologies.
Additionally, the defendant is accused of transferring money to terrorist organisations in Yemen, and using the internet to learn how to make a bomb, which was later planted in front of a resident’s house.
The prosecution used the confession video, evidence, fingerprints from the washroom where the victim was murdered, and fingerprints on the newspaper used to hide the murder weapon (which matched that of the defendant) to demand maximum punishment.
By Abdulla Rasheed Abu Dhabi Editor
Gulf News 2015. All rights reserved.
