First death sentence of 2012 handed to Dubai prostitute killers

DUBAI // Two men who murdered a prostitute were given the first death sentence of 2012 in Dubai's highest court today.

The men, 42-year-old Ahmedullah Nazar and 32-year-old Ismael Haji, both from Afghanistan, appealed against their verdicts twice, but were found guilty of premeditated murder by the Dubai Court of Cassation.

They will face the firing squad as soon as the order has been approved by the Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

Nazar said he was romantically involved with the murder victim, Uzbeki prostitute, M H, for six months before he killed her in February 2010. Haji met her for the first time on the night of the murder.

The victim's housemate, N A, told prosecutors that Haji was the first to arrive at the apartment that night. He solicited sex from the victim and then from the housemate N A, 42. When Nazar arrived and found out M H had slept with Haji, he began shouting and beating her.

"Ahmedullah came to the house that day angry because she had many relationships with other Afghan men, which upset him," explained N A in court records.

Hearing her friend's screams, N A said she tried to get into the room to help her, but Haji stopped her.

"I heard her screams while she was being killed," she said. "I was wrestling with Ismael but he repeatedly punched me and then locked me in the bathroom."

A police captain told prosecutors their investigations led them to Nazar's place of work, but he was not there when they arrived.

Nazar's relative told police he had come to him and confessed to killing a Russian woman in Dubai. He asked for Dh6,000 (US$1,600) so he could flee the country.

A week after the murder, police found both men hiding in a Sharjah bakery.

Nazar and Haji confessed their crime to police, although they denied the charge of murder in court.

DNA evidence found at the crime scene proved Nazar and Haji has been involved in the attack.

The victim's flat mate, N A, was also charged and convicted of prostitution. She has since served her sentence and been deported.

The last death sentence to be carried out in Dubai was that of Rashid Rabee Al Rashidi, 30. He was killed by firing squad in February last year. Al Rashidi had raped and killed four-year-old Moosa Mukhtiar Ahmed in the bathroom of a mosque during Eid Al Adha in 2009.

amustafa@thenational.ae