I'm allowed to kill infidels, man tells judge

Prosecutors seek to overturn sentence of psychiatric treatment for man who killed accusers in court.

ABU DHABI // A mentally disturbed man who stabbed a witness to death in court told an appeals court judge yesterday that as a Muslim he was entitled to kill "infidels".

The judge told BAM, an Egyptian, that he should exercise his rights by using the law, "and not go around killing people".

BAM first appeared in court last year, accused of causing a permanent injury to a Nepalese man, LK. Released on bail, he then stabbed LK to death in his room.

Later he took the murder weapon to court and killed another Nepalese man who was giving evidence on behalf of LK.

Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance found him guilty, and ordered that he receive psychiatric treatment.

Prosecutors appealed on the ground that BAM was not mentally ill but knew perfectly well what he was doing. They pointed out that while claiming he killed the two men because they were infidels, he chose to kill only people who were giving evidence against him in a criminal court case.

The Court of Cassation returned the case to the Court of Appeals.

"I'm an Arab Muslim and in an Arab Muslim country," BAM told the court yesterday. "Those infidels are killing Muslims all around the world … there was a Muslim doctor just killed in Germany and when her husband wanted to defend her they attacked him as well."

The judge said he was not concerned with what happened in other countries, and that justice would be served.

He said it was never part of Islamic law, even in an Islamic state, to kill people because of their beliefs, or to take revenge.

A representative from the Nepalese Embassy told the court relatives of the two victims would be seeking blood money.

The judge reserved his verdict, and adjourned the case until January 11 for the representative to present his certificate showing that the men's families had given him power of attorney.