The first person to be extradited from the UAE to Britain has gone on trial for the brutal murder of a disabled man.
Jeleel Ahmed, 28, made history last August when he was flown from Dubai back to Britain under an extradition treaty signed between the two nations in 2008.
He appeared in the dock yesterday at Birmingham Crown Court after pleading not guilty to murder. He has been held on remand in prison since being flown back to the UK.
He is accused of acting as the driver for two "assassins" who fatally stabbed Shanwaz Ali, a muscular dystrophy sufferer who could only walk a short distance, outside his home in Birmingham in 2006.
Ahmed was interviewed by police immediately after the incident but was released on police bail because of a lack of evidence. He immediately travelled to London and caught a flight to Dubai, where he is understood to have had relatives.
British police tracked his movements but were unable to do anything because of a lack of an extradition agreement between the UAE and the UK.
All that changed in 2008 when the two nations signed a treaty. Until now, however, Ahmed has been the only person extradited in either direction - a bid by the UAE to have a multimillionaire businessman accused of drugs dealing extradited from Britain was rejected by the High Court in London earlier this year.
Nevertheless, the arrest and extradition of Ahmed is seen as an important landmark in the development of the UAE's legal system.
"People have to understand that the UAE isn't a safe haven," Dr Mustafa Alani, from the Gulf Research Centre, who has studied UAE law and its impact on security, said at the time of the extradition.
"These agreements are important because they send the message that you can't hide here, the UAE will not give you refuge or protection."
Ahmed denies playing any part in the murder of Mr Ali, 23, the son of a prominent Labour Party activist in Birmingham.
"He was stabbed twice in the back by two men who were seen doing that by his brother," Timothy Raggatt QC, the prosecuting barrister, told the court. "This was not something that happened at random. There were clearly a number of people involved in what was a planned and carefully organised attack."
Mr Raggatt said that, at the time of the attack in January 2006, there had been a "simmering dispute" between Ali, a delivery driver, and Muddassir Zaman, who had organised the killing.
The dispute arose after Ali had been involved in a car accident with a van that had business links to Zaman and his family two months before the killing.
Mr Raggatt said that although the crash may have been Mr Ali's fault, he had denied responsibility and a dispute developed. At one stage he was sent a note demanding he pay compensation "or else".
Zaman decided that Ali should be "brought to account", according to Mr Raggatt, and the killers met on the evening of the killing to carry out the attack.
Ahmed had played an important role, said the prosecutor. As well as being the getaway driver, he had helped to "clear up afterwards".
Three years ago, Zaman, now 27, and Mohammed Shakil, now 29, were jailed for life by Judge David Matthews in the same court where Ahmed is now on trial.
That trial was told that Mr Ali had died in front of his "helpless" parents. "It is clear from the evidence that some hostility was directed towards Shanwaz Ali as a result of his conduct after that accident," said the judge.
"What is clear from the verdicts of the jury is that they were sure that Shanwaz Ali became the target of a carefully planned attack."
The judge said that there had been a concentrated search for the victim. "When he was found, he was followed to his home and as soon as he got out of his car he was quickly stabbed in the back twice with fatal consequences."
Judge Matthews said that nobody with an ounce of compassion could have failed to have been moved by Mebraham Ali's account of the devastating effect his son's death had had on him and his family.
By the time the two men were jailed, West Midlands Police were already in contact through diplomatic channels with their counterparts in the UAE but the latter were powerless to act until the extradition treaty was signed a year later.
Ahmed's trial is expected to last at least another week.
dsapsted@thenational.ae
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
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
'How To Build A Boat'
Jonathan Gornall, Simon & Schuster
Is it worth it? We put cheesecake frap to the test.
The verdict from the nutritionists is damning. But does a cheesecake frappuccino taste good enough to merit the indulgence?
My advice is to only go there if you have unusually sweet tooth. I like my puddings, but this was a bit much even for me. The first hit is a winner, but it's downhill, slowly, from there. Each sip is a little less satisfying than the last, and maybe it was just all that sugar, but it isn't long before the rush is replaced by a creeping remorse. And half of the thing is still left.
The caramel version is far superior to the blueberry, too. If someone put a full caramel cheesecake through a liquidiser and scooped out the contents, it would probably taste something like this. Blueberry, on the other hand, has more of an artificial taste. It's like someone has tried to invent this drink in a lab, and while early results were promising, they're still in the testing phase. It isn't terrible, but something isn't quite right either.
So if you want an experience, go for a small, and opt for the caramel. But if you want a cheesecake, it's probably more satisfying, and not quite as unhealthy, to just order the real thing.