UAE Court: Reem Island Suspect’s Mental Health To Be Examined

The UAE’s Federal Supreme Court has called for an examination into the mental health of the main accused in Abu Dhabi’s Reem Island murder case, state news agency WAM reported.

The ruling comes as the accused, Alaa Bader Abdullah, told the court in a previous hearing that she was not mentally stable and had suffered from hallucinations.

During the latest hearing that was presided by Judge Falah Al Hajeri, the prosecution presented evidence against the accused, which includes a video of her describing the crime.

In the video, Abdullah allegedly confessed to the murder and said that she wanted to kill an expat to disturb the peace of the UAE, local daily The National reported.

She lured her victim – American schoolteacher Ibolya Ryan – by asking for her help to enter an empty toilet stall. Once inside, the accused produced a knife she was hiding in her sock and stabbed Ryan on her chest multiple times.

However, Abdullah denied all the charges against her and said that she does not remember speaking in the video.

The court also heard the testimony of the prosecution’s witnesses that included a security official and an explosives expert.

Dubbed the Reem Island ghost, Abdullah – dressed in an abaya, black gloves and a niqab – is accused of fatally stabbing Ryan in a toilet at the Boutik Mall in Abu Dhabi on December 4 last year.

Following the killing of Ryan, she proceeded to plant a bomb at the doorstep of an American doctor in the capital. But the explosive failed to detonate, foiling her plans to harm the residents and create mayhem, officials said in a later statement.

Her plans were also thwarted by the police who identified and detained her within 48 hours of the crime through the help of CCTV footage from the mall.

The accused was later charged on the counts of “collecting explosive materials, which is prohibited to be assembled by law, without a license, and establishing and managing electronically an account on the internet under a pseudonym with a view to promoting ideas of a terrorist group.”

Abdullah was also accused of “publishing through this account information intended to distort the reputation, prestige and stature of the state and undermine its figures, in addition to funding a terrorist organisation knowing that it will be used in terrorist acts.”

The prosecution said she committed these crimes with intent “to cause death, to stir up fear among people, to compromise the prestigious stature of the state and threaten its security and stability.”

The court will hold the next hearing of this case on April 21, 2015, WAM reported.