Student death: Family pardons accused

ONE OF TWO DEFENDANTS ESCAPES DEATH PENALTY AFTER VICTIM’S KIN ACCEPTS BLOOD MONEY

One of the two students sentenced to death after being found guilty in the death of a fellow university student in Sharjah in February 2013 was pardoned by the victim’s family at the Sharjah Appeal Court yesterday.

The family did not pardon the second student. A third student was earlier fined Dh1,000 in absentia for covering up the crime and failing to report it.

The two Kuwaiti students have already spent more than two years in jail for their role in the death of Mubarak Mesha’al Mubarak, 19, who died at University City Hospital on February 24, 2013, following several days of physical abuse.

Salem Obaid Bin Sahoo, legal counsel representing the victim’s family, told Gulf News that they initially wanted the death penalty for those responsible for their son’s death, but accepted the blood money after negotiations.

Closed session

The case opened at Sharjah Sharia Court on January 22 in a closed session.

Rashid Al Omrani, AttorneyGeneral of Sharjah Prosecution, told Gulf News earlier that “according to our investigations, we are submitting three charges against the suspects to the criminal court: Deprivation of the victim’s freedom, torture and premeditated murder”.

Evidence

The two suspects sentenced to death are being held at Sharjah’s Central Prison.

Lawyers for the accused had asked the judge to summon witnesses in the case, including the man who filmed a video of the torture, and staff at the emergency section of University City Hospital in Sharjah, in addition to university cafeteria staff where the victim collapsed.

Official sources conducting the investigation claimed that the two suspects had confessed to their crime before the court.

They said that they tortured the victim for three days for allegedly harassing one of their female relatives.

It is understood that Mubarak was accused of harassing the sister of one of the three suspects and borrowed Dh100,000 from one of the suspects.

Authorities indicated that this explained why Mubarak maintained his silence despite four days of torture and did not report the matter to police.