Masha’s Killer Fined
How unexpected. This case is really triggering a lot of frustration and many people are upset.
JPostA Yemeni court ruled Monday that a Muslim on trial for killing a Yemeni Jew is mentally incompetent and merely ordered him to pay a fine for the fatal shooting.
The slaying of Jewish teacher Moshe Yaish Nahari last December in Omran, north of the capital, San’a, raised fears of anti-Semitic attacks across the country.
Monday’s ruling said the defendant – Abdel Aziz Yehia Hamoud al-Abdi, a retired pilot in the Yemeni air force – is “mentally unstable.” It ordered him to pay a fine of 50.5 million riyals, or about $250,000.
Lawyer Khaled al-Anisi representing the slain teacher says the court showed “prejudice” and warned the light ruling opened doors to attacks that could lead to the eviction of the Jewish community from Yemen.
A Yemeni Web site, newsyemen.net, quoted the local police chief, Ahmed Yahya al-Suraihi, as saying at the time that Abdi, 40, had confessed to the murder, saying he had killed Nahari “for the sake of Allah.”
The police chief was quoted as saying that Abdi told police he had sent a message to the Jews who live in the area that they must either embrace Islam, leave the country or be killed.
