Sentences upheld in boy's killing

The Court of Appeal upholds the sentences for two boys convicted of stabbing to death a 13-year-old.

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DUBAI // Dubai's highest court upheld the prison sentences for two teenagers convicted of stabbing a 13-year-old boy to death in Rashidiya last year.

Ali Mohammed Hassan died of 11 stab wounds after a street brawl in March 2010. HA, 16, and AM, 17, were convicted of killing him. They left the boy bleeding on the pavement outside his home.

In July, HA was sentenced to 10 years in the juvenile detention centre and AM to five.

Ten years is the maximum sentence under federal juvenile law for children older than 7 but younger than 18 convicted of a crime that, for adults, carries the death penalty or life imprisonment. Their lawyers had appealed against the sentence.

On the night of the murder, a police officer heard a scream outside his house and found Ali lying in a pool of his own blood. He had three stab wounds in the left side of his back, three in his left shoulder, three in the left side of his chest, one in his stomach and one in his upper chest.

The court found HA had stabbed Ali in a premeditated manner as AM urged him on.

Three other boys, AA, 15, SH, 14, and AH, 15, were sent to a juvenile reform centre for their part in the crime, and placed on probation until adulthood.

All five boys are Emirati, as was the victim.