Reem Island suspect mentally stable

COURT ADJOURNS CASE TO JUNE 8 AFTER EXAMINING MEDICAL EVALUATION REPORTS

Alaa Al Hashemi, who is accused of killing an American teacher, was fully conscious of her actions, according to medical reports submitted in court

Alaa Al Hashemi, the woman accused of murdering American teacher Ibolya Ryan in a mall on Reem Island, is in perfect mental health and fully conscious of her actions, according to medical reports submitted in court yesterday.

Receiving the reports, the State Security Court at the Federal Supreme Court adjourned the case to June 8 for the defence lawyer to present his arguments. The defendant will remain in jail till then.

During the session, presided over by Judge Falah Al Hajiri, the court heard a 50-minute testimony by the prosecution that included video footage of the defendant confessing to her crime, and footage of the crime scene in Boutiq Mall’s washroom.

The medical reports were submitted by a team from Shaikh Khalifa Medical Centre where the defendant was examined on the court’s directions after having earlier claimed she was possessed by a jinn (evil spirit), and was mentally unstable.

The public prosecution also 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.

Other charges

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.