Reem Island murder suspect to appear in court

The woman accused of murdering American teacher Ibolya Ryan in a mall on Reem Island in the capital will be referred to the Federal Supreme Court.

An image from an Abu Dhabi Police video of the raid on the home of the Reem Island murder suspect. Courtesy Security Media

ABU DHABI // The woman accused of stabbing to death American teacher Ibolya Ryan in the toilets of a Reem Island mall will be referred to the Federal Supreme Court.

Attorney General Salem Kubaish on Sunday said Alaa Bader Abdullah was accused of “killing the victim Ibolya Ryan by stabbing her to death and attempting to kill residents in an apartment in the Habtoor building on Abu Dhabi Corniche”, the state news agency Wam reported.

On December 1 last year, the blood-covered body of Ms Ryan, a mother of three, was found in the toilets near the Waitrose supermarket in Boutik Mall.

Her twin sons, aged 11, had been waiting for her in the mall.

That evening, a home-made nail bomb was found at the door of a doctor’s flat in the Habtoor building.

Mr Kubaish said Ms Abdullah was believed to have placed the bomb, which failed to detonate.

She is also accused of collecting bomb materials and starting an internet account “under a pseudonym with a view to promoting ideas of a terrorist group”.

She was arrested by Abu Dhabi CID on December 4.

Mr Kubaish said Ms Abdullah had decided to commit murder in a mall to affect as many people as possible. He said she had listened to speeches by Osama bin Laden and watched footage of executions by terrorists.

Mr Kubaish said she chose her victim after a conversation to identify her accent, then accompanied her to the bathrooms and stabbed her to death.

The Attorney General said she left the crime scene and headed to the Corniche, where her 4x4 was parked. She had learnt that tenants in one of the apartments were foreigners, so she left her bomb at the door after lighting the fuse.

The bomb was discovered, disabled and dismantled.

He said Ms Abdullah confessed in detail to all of the crimes.

“This came following investigations led by the general prosecution, which revealed that prior to committing the crime she had listened to audio lectures by Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab Al Zarqawi [Al Qaeda’s late founder in Iraq],” Mr Kubaish said.

He said Ms Abdullah had watched videos of executions by terrorist groups and read articles about extremists that greatly influenced her.

“She began fervently supporting such subversive ideas and believed that terrorists embraced the ideology of jihad,” Mr Kubaish said.

“She then decided to engage in a terrorist act in support of the activities of two terrorist organisations by the names of Al Qaeda and ISIL.”

She created an online account under a pseudonym “on the website of an online forum gathering members of terrorist groups that adopt violence as an ideology”, he said.

“She communicated with its members who are terrorists and participated in the publishing of videos, articles, photos and comments supporting the terrorist ideology and marking a clear preference for it, and calling others to convert to it.”

Mr Kubaish said she intended to damage the reputation of the UAE and all it stood for.

The Attorney General said that the accused donated funds to Al Qaeda to finance terrorist operations inside the UAE.

“The accused committed her crime against a foreign resident in a shopping centre to spread terror among both expatriate residents and visitors, and embarrass and undermine the state authorities globally,” he said.