ABU DHABI // The murderer of American teacher Ibolya Ryan was executed on Monday morning.
Alaa Al Hashemi was executed after her death sentence was approved by President Sheikh Khalifa, the state news agency Wam reported.
Al Hashemi, 30, was found guilty of stabbing Ibolya Ryan to death with a large kitchen knife in a toilet cubicle at Boutik Mall last December.
She was put to death by firing squad after she was sentenced to death in the State Security division of the Federal Supreme Court on June 29.
Al Hashemi was also convicted of making a handmade bomb that she planted in front of an apartment owned by an Egyptian-American doctor and of using an online account to spread information that ridiculed and harmed the country.
She had been found guilty of sending money to Al Qaeda in Yemen, knowing that it would be used to fund terrorist acts.
Before announcing the verdict last month, Judge Falah Al Hajeri said: “The UAE, with the Grace of Allah, over its history has been and will always remain a haven of safety and stability, and it is a model of correlation and societal peace.”
Mohammed Al Kaabi, chairman of the UAE Human Rights Society, said the speedy execution of the death sentence made a statement to any would-be terrorists.
“The execution today sends a strong message to terrorists worldwide that the UAE is a red line that you don’t cross.
“The hand of justice will slap whoever thinks of distorting the security of the nation,” he said.
newsdesk@thenational.ae
