Three men found guilty of murdering Chabad-Lubavitch emissary Rabbi Zvi Kogan last year were unanimously sentenced to death in the United Arab Emirates on Monday, state news agency WAM reported.
Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeals’ State Security Chamber found the defendants guilty of premeditated murder with terrorist intention. A fourth defendant was sentenced to life in prison.
Olimpi Toirovich, Makhmudjon Abdurakhim, and Azizbek Kamlovich, who are citizens of Uzbekistan, were arrested for the act last year. It is not clear if all three of them were sentenced to death, or if one was the individual sentenced to life in prison.
Firing squad is the sole method of execution in the UAE.
Investigations by the state security prosecution revealed the convicts tracked Kogan before murdering him. Evidence during the trial included detailed confessions, forensic and autopsy reports, post-mortem examination findings, tools used in the crime, and witness testimonies, WAM reported.
Attorney General Dr. Hamad Saif Al Shamsi reportedly said the ruling “embodies the UAE’s unwavering commitment to combating terrorism in accordance with the highest standards of justice and the rule of law, and to providing fair trial guarantees.”
Capital punishment sentences are reportedly automatically subject to appeal under UAE law and are referred to the Criminal Division of the Federal Supreme Court.
Kogan, 28, a Moldovan and Israeli citizen, was last seen alive in Dubai before his body was discovered in Al Ain, a city near the Oman border approximately 90 minutes from Dubai.
Kogan worked as an emissary for the Jewish group Chabad, helping to support religious life for Jewish visitors and residents. He worked with the Chabad in Abu Dhabi and ran a kosher grocery store in Dubai.
The UAE has had a spike in Jewish and Israeli visitors since the establishment of formal ties with Israel under the Abraham Accords in 2020. The act of suspected terrorism may have been targeted at threatening the stability of the Abraham Accords.
The White House National Security Council under the Biden administration said at the time that the murder was a crime against supporters of peace.
“This was a horrific crime against all those who stand for peace, tolerance and coexistence,” said Sean Savett, a spokesman for the council. “It was an assault as well on UAE and its rejection of violent extremism across the board.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the murder an anti-Semitic terrorist attack and said that the Jewish state will seek justice against those who dispatched the three men.
“This murder of an Israeli citizen and a Chabad emissary, is an abhorrent antisemitic terrorist attack,” Netanyahu said. “The State of Israel will use all means, and will deal with these murderers, and those who dispatched them, to the fullest extent of the law. None of them will get away.”
Almost a million dollars was raised to support Kogan’s widow, who is the niece of Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg. Holtzberg and his wife, Rikvah, were murdered by Islamic terrorists in Mumbai in 2008.
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Three men found guilty of murdering Chabad-Lubavitch emissary Rabbi Zvi Kogan last year were unanimously sentenced to death in the United Arab Emirates on Monday, state news agency WAM reported.
Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeals’ State Security Chamber found the defendants guilty of premeditated murder with terrorist intention. A fourth defendant was sentenced to life in prison.
Olimpi Toirovich, Makhmudjon Abdurakhim, and Azizbek Kamlovich, who are citizens of Uzbekistan, were arrested for the act last year. It is not clear if all three of them were sentenced to death, or if one was the individual sentenced to life in prison.
Firing squad is the sole method of execution in the UAE.
Investigations by the state security prosecution revealed the convicts tracked Kogan before murdering him. Evidence during the trial included detailed confessions, forensic and autopsy reports, post-mortem examination findings, tools used in the crime, and witness testimonies, WAM reported.
Attorney General Dr. Hamad Saif Al Shamsi reportedly said the ruling “embodies the UAE’s unwavering commitment to combating terrorism in accordance with the highest standards of justice and the rule of law, and to providing fair trial guarantees.”
Capital punishment sentences are reportedly automatically subject to appeal under UAE law and are referred to the Criminal Division of the Federal Supreme Court.
Kogan, 28, a Moldovan and Israeli citizen, was last seen alive in Dubai before his body was discovered in Al Ain, a city near the Oman border approximately 90 minutes from Dubai.
Kogan worked as an emissary for the Jewish group Chabad, helping to support religious life for Jewish visitors and residents. He worked with the Chabad in Abu Dhabi and ran a kosher grocery store in Dubai.
The UAE has had a spike in Jewish and Israeli visitors since the establishment of formal ties with Israel under the Abraham Accords in 2020. The act of suspected terrorism may have been targeted at threatening the stability of the Abraham Accords.
The White House National Security Council under the Biden administration said at the time that the murder was a crime against supporters of peace.
“This was a horrific crime against all those who stand for peace, tolerance and coexistence,” said Sean Savett, a spokesman for the council. “It was an assault as well on UAE and its rejection of violent extremism across the board.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the murder an anti-Semitic terrorist attack and said that the Jewish state will seek justice against those who dispatched the three men.
“This murder of an Israeli citizen and a Chabad emissary, is an abhorrent antisemitic terrorist attack,” Netanyahu said. “The State of Israel will use all means, and will deal with these murderers, and those who dispatched them, to the fullest extent of the law. None of them will get away.”
Almost a million dollars was raised to support Kogan’s widow, who is the niece of Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg. Holtzberg and his wife, Rikvah, were murdered by Islamic terrorists in Mumbai in 2008.
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