Courts

Death sentence for brothers convicted for Al Ain revenge killings

Three Emirati brothers convicted of murdering two Omanis as part of a blood feud have been sentenced to death by the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court.

Haneen Dajani
Haneen Dajani
UAE

May 23, 2013

ABU DHABI // Three Emirati brothers convicted of murdering two Omanis as part of a blood feud were today sentenced to death.

A fourth brother who was charged with them was cleared by the Criminal Court, as were two cousins charged with hiding the brothers.

The judge, Idris bin Mansour,  stressed the verdict would be scrutinised by both the Appeals and Cassation Courts.

Both must uphold the sentence, even if the defendants do not request an appeal.

The three brothers were also sentenced to six months for possessing weapons, and one received a further three months for indecent exposure, a year for possessing psychotropic pills and a fine of Dh500 for reckless driving.

The trio killed the Omanis M, 31, and O, 43, on May 4 last year after a car chase. The car the Omanis were in crashed in Al Jimmi, Al Ain, after which the Emiratis shot them dead.

The murder was revenge for the death of a fifth Emirati brother, 19, who was killed in Oman by the brother of one of the men.

The teenager was tricked into driving to Oman by two men who introduced him to a wise man, who gave him a drink they claimed had restorative powers. He died after drinking it and the two men, aged 35 and 58, stole his car and sold it.
Omani authorities arrested the two men and put them on trial.

They claimed to be friends with the teenager and said they had invited him to Al Bureimi to taste a drink thought to “bring luck”.

Their lawyers argued there was no proof of criminal intent because it was unclear if the teenager died because of the drink or because he had been strangled.

Tests in Oman suggested the drink caused his death. Wounds were found on his neck but forensic examiners were unsure how these were caused, saying the period between his death and their investigation – a week – was too long. The Omani court said it could not be sure of the events and sentenced the two men to life in prison rather than death. It also ordered them to pay blood money.

The teenager’s father appealed  but this was turned down.

When the body was returned to the UAE, his family demanded further tests. These found the teenager had been drugged and then choked either by hands or a rope.

The Omani courts asked a third GCC country to conduct tests. These backed up the UAE findings but because the Omani court remained unconvinced about the cause of death it refrained from issuing a death sentence.

This drove the teenager's family to seek their own vengeance.

hdajani@thenational.ae

HIV on the rise in the region

A 2019 United Nations special analysis on Aids reveals 37 per cent of new HIV infections in the Mena region are from people injecting drugs.

New HIV infections have also risen by 29 per cent in western Europe and Asia, and by 7 per cent in Latin America, but declined elsewhere.

Egypt has shown the highest increase in recorded cases of HIV since 2010, up by 196 per cent.

Access to HIV testing, treatment and care in the region is well below the global average.  

Few statistics have been published on the number of cases in the UAE, although a UNAIDS report said 1.5 per cent of the prison population has the virus.

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RESULT

Brazil 2 Croatia 0
Brazil: Neymar (69'), Firmino (90' 3)    

As it stands in Pool A

1. Japan - Played 3, Won 3, Points 14

2. Ireland - Played 3, Won 2, Lost 1, Points 11

3. Scotland - Played 2, Won 1, Lost 1, Points 5

Remaining fixtures

Scotland v Russia – Wednesday, 11.15am

Ireland v Samoa – Saturday, 2.45pm

Japan v Scotland – Sunday, 2.45pm

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At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

 

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

 

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

 

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30 

 

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

 

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

 

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How has net migration to UK changed?

The figure was broadly flat immediately before the Covid-19 pandemic, standing at 216,000 in the year to June 2018 and 224,000 in the year to June 2019.

It then dropped to an estimated 111,000 in the year to June 2020 when restrictions introduced during the pandemic limited travel and movement.

The total rose to 254,000 in the year to June 2021, followed by steep jumps to 634,000 in the year to June 2022 and 906,000 in the year to June 2023.

The latest available figure of 728,000 for the 12 months to June 2024 suggests levels are starting to decrease.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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