UAE: ACCUSED SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING OMANI

October 20, 2014: One of three cousins accused of killing an Omani during a hunting trip in the desert had his death sentence upheld, while the other two have been acquitted, The National newspaper reported.
According to the newspaper "the Criminal Court had previously convicted two of the defendants, cousins N D and M D and sentenced them to death. A third cousin, HD, was cleared".
But at the Appeals Court on Tuesday (October 20) only N D had his sentence upheld after the victim's relatives took the Sharia oath of Qasama that he was the one who committed the murder.
Qasama is a way of adjudicating first-degree murder charges when there are only strong suspicions that the defendant committed the crime, yet there is not sufficient evidence.
During Qasama, the victim's heirs are asked to swear a religious oath a total of 50 times that they believe the defendant killed the victim.
They also have the choice of reverting the Qasama back to the defendant and making him take the oath 50 times saying he did not commit it.
If they decline from either option then the case is dropped. The murder occurred after the trio took their Toyota Land Cruiser to a remote part of the desert.
A Toyota Hilux carrying some Omanis began chasing and throwing rocks at them. One of the Omanis also fired a pistol in the air. The Emirati cousins fired a warning shot back at the Omanis. However, the shot hit one of the passengers in the head, killing him instantly.
The men in the Hilux denied they had a gun but admitted to hitting the Land Cruiser with rocks.
It was only the third time the Abu Dhabi Appeals Court had ever used the Qasama oath to resolve a murder case. (Sources: timesofoman.com, 22/10/2014)