In a landmark judgement, Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeals’s State Security Chamber convicted and sentenced three persons with death, and one to life imprisonment for kidnaping and murder of Moldova-Israeli Rabbi Zvi Kogan in November 2024. The court declared that the crime was carried out with “terrorist motive”, a serious legal blow to the notorious case.
Rabbi Kogan, 28, who belonged to the fanatical Chabad Hasidic sect, was murdered while working in the UAE after being kidnapped. Israeli Prime Minister had termed the incident as an “anti-Semitic terrorist attack.”
The court relied on “detailed confessions, good forensic evidence, and witnesses testimony” in supporting the conviction. The three main culprits were sentenced to death and an accomplice to life. All death sentences are automatically acted on by the U.A.E. court of appeal of the Federal Supreme Court. 
The verdict mirrors UAE’s hardline on militancy and extremism, and its resolution to justice as worldwide consideration is upping. Legal specialists warn that the case may set a precedent for handling other crimes of this type in the area.
