SHARJAH // Two students, including a member of Kuwait’s royal family, were sentenced to death on Tuesday for the torture and murder of their roommate.
Kuwaiti Mubarak Meshaal Al Mubarak, 19, a first-year student at the University of Sharjah, died in hospital on February 25 last year after suffering internal bleeding, burns and multiple fractures sustained during three days of torture.
Kuwaitis Y S, 20, and H A, 19, were sentenced to death by Sharjah Criminal Court after being found guilty of depriving the victim’s freedom, torture, and premeditated murder. A third man, who fled the UAE, was fined Dh1,000 in his absence for covering up a crime and failing to report it to the authorities.
Y S and H A admitted to investigators they tortured Al Mubarak, who was sharing an apartment with one of them, and claimed that they did it over a financial dispute. They also claimed that the victim was harassing one of the killer’s female relatives.
Police found a six-minute video recording on one of the student’s mobiles that showed the victim being physically abused and tortured.
A witness told prosecutors during a previous court hearing that Al Mubarak collapsed in front of his restaurant before being taken to the University Hospital in Sharjah by one of his friends.
The victim’s family attended the hearings and requested the presiding judge hand the pair the death penalty after they refused a blood money offer from one of the killer’s families.
Prosecutors have tried to extradite the third man, who is believed to be in Kuwait,.
tzriqat@thenational.ae
