The case of Mubarak Meshaal Al Mubarak has shocked two countries. In Kuwait, where the 19-year old student was from, his family will finally get their wish to see their son buried, after the post-mortem was carried out and his body released this weekend. In the UAE, where Mr Al Mubarak died last month, the case is receiving wide attention.
But as the court case continues, so there is little that can be said definitively. Still, it is now clear that Mr Al Mubarak was tortured so severely that he died of his injuries. The two facing trial are teenagers, just 18 and 19, and apparently had known the deceased young man for their entire lives.
The report into Mr Al Mubarak's death mentions "burn marks and signs of torture" on his body. On Tuesday, police announced they had recovered six minutes of mobile-phone footage allegedly showing the assault.
This case is extraordinary, but there are similar crimes on the record. On this day two years ago, we wrote on these pages about Ali Mohammed Hassan, a 13-year-old Emirati who was stabbed to death in Rashidiyah in Dubai, by two older teenagers.
Two years before that, The National reported on a gang calling themselves "Death Room", who abducted children as young as 12, filmed them being tortured and then extorted money from the victims.
Both of those cases shocked the nation and made people wonder what was happening in these hidden subcultures involving young people. All told, such cases are rare in the UAE, but reports of knife and sword crime have anecdotally confirmed a trend of youth violence.
In these pages, we have advocated a three-pronged strategy to combat youth violence. The first, of course, is law and law enforcement. Those who commit such crimes must know that they will be caught - and the wider community must see justice delivered swiftly.
There is also an important education component, which involves both schools and families. One of the strong bonds of this society is the extended family, which retains the most influence over young people. Finally, youths have to have options and outlets for their energy.
Youth crime of this nature, by boys and young men with their whole lives ahead of them, is always shocking. The senseless nature of these crimes means they can be deterred given the proper diligence.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
Difference between fractional ownership and timeshare
Although similar in its appearance, the concept of a fractional title deed is unlike that of a timeshare, which usually involves multiple investors buying “time” in a property whereby the owner has the right to occupation for a specified period of time in any year, as opposed to the actual real estate, said John Peacock, Head of Indirect Tax and Conveyancing, BSA Ahmad Bin Hezeem & Associates, a law firm.
Opening weekend Premier League fixtures
Weekend of August 10-13
Arsenal v Manchester City
Bournemouth v Cardiff City
Fulham v Crystal Palace
Huddersfield Town v Chelsea
Liverpool v West Ham United
Manchester United v Leicester City
Newcastle United v Tottenham Hotspur
Southampton v Burnley
Watford v Brighton & Hove Albion
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Everton
Fanney Khan
Producer: T-Series, Anil Kapoor Productions, ROMP, Prerna Arora
Director: Atul Manjrekar
Cast: Anil Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai, Rajkummar Rao, Pihu Sand
Rating: 2/5
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