DUBAI – Dubai carried out a death sentence for the first time in 10 years on Thursday, executing an Emirati man found guilty of raping and murdering a Pakistani child, official media reported. Rashid Rabia al-Rashidi, who had been found guilty of the rape and pre-meditated murder of a four-year-old Pakistani boy in a Dubai mosque, had exhausted all legal avenues, the official WAM news agency said.
The 30-year-old Emirati was sentenced to death in January 2010, after he confessed to raping and killing the boy, who was found dead in the bathroom of the mosque on the Eid Al-Adha feast on November 27 of that year. Prosecutors, who demanded a rapid trial for the case, said Rashidi had lured the boy to the bathroom by saying he would give him a cash present to mark the feast.
As the boy tried to scream after being sexually assaulted, the attacker muzzled him and banged his head on the floor, delivering a fatal blow. The death sentence was confirmed in an appeal. Although the law in the United Arab Emirates includes capital punishment, executions are rare in the Muslim Gulf country, where death sentences are typically commuted to life in prison. The last execution in the UAE took place in February 2008 in Ras Al-Khaimah.
