Lawyers agree to represent Moosa's killer

DUBAI // A man sentenced to death for raping and killing a child last autumn will be represented before the Dubai Court of Appeals by a noted father-and-son legal team. Abdullah al Midrib and his father, Abdel Rahman al Midrib, have been appointed by the court in the appeals case of Rashid al Rashidi, who killed four-year-old Moosa Mukhtiar Ahmed on November 27. Al Rashidi stood before the court yesterday to meet his lawyers for the first time. Abdullah al Midrib told the court they were handed the case file on Thursday, and presiding Judge Eisa al Sharif granted the team two weeks to review the files. The case will resume on February 28.

The victim's father, Mukhtiar Ahmed Khudabakhsh, was in court yesterday along with his brother, son and, for the first time, his wife, who was weeping silently throughout the proceedings. Abdullah al Midrib said outside the courtroom that his firm accepted the case because it was a court appointment. He said his father would take the lead counsel role in the courtroom. "It has come to us as a court-appointed case and our job as lawyers is not to refuse and accept cases but to carry forth our job," Abdullah al Midrib said.

In al Rashidi's first court appearance, in the lower court in December, his court-appointed lawyer handed the court a letter refusing to represent him. Hamed al Khazraji told the court that "this defendant is an embarrassment to humanity". Al Midrib Advocates and Legal Consultants is one of the oldest law firms in the UAE. The firm has been operating since 1980, according to Abdullah al Midrib. Abdel Rahman al Midrib's history inside Dubai courtrooms precedes the introduction of its current courthouse, in 1992. [e-mail]