UAE sentences killers of Israeli-Moldovan rabbi to death

By Mohammed Al Ragawi and Rania Abu Shamala

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeals in the UAE sentenced three defendants to death on Monday for the kidnapping and murder of Israeli-Moldovan national Zvi Kogan, and handed life imprisonment to a fourth defendant, the official WAM news agency reported.

Attorney Gen. Dr. Hamad Saif Al Shamsi had ordered the four defendants to be brought to a swift trial in January 2025, following investigations conducted by state prosecutors, which revealed that the defendants had tracked and murdered the victim.

Evidence presented to the court included the defendants' detailed confessions to the crimes of murder and kidnapping, along with forensic reports, post-mortem examination findings, details of the instruments used in the crime, and witness testimonies.

The court unanimously sentenced the three defendants who carried out the murder and kidnapping to death, while the accomplice who aided them received a life sentence followed by deportation from the country after serving his sentence.

Under UAE law, sentences of capital punishment are automatically subject to appeal and are referred to the criminal division of the Federal Supreme Court for review and adjudication.

In November 2024, the suspects in Kogan’s murder in the UAE were apprehended in Türkiye through a joint operation by Turkish intelligence and law enforcement, according to sources.

The sources said the Uzbek nationals were apprehended in Istanbul at the request of the UAE government after being found involved in the killing of the Israeli rabbi, who had been running a kosher supermarket chain in Dubai.

The suspects, identified as Alimbay Tahirovich, 28; Mahmudcan Abdurrahim, also aged 28, and Azizbek Kamilovich, 33, were taken into custody and extradited to the UAE.