ABU DHABI // The woman accused of stabbing to death American teacher Ibolya Ryan in the toilets of a Reem Island mall will be referred to the Federal Supreme Court.
Attorney General Salem Kubaish on Sunday said Alaa Bader Abdullah was accused of “killing the victim Ibolya Ryan by stabbing her to death and attempting to kill residents in an apartment in the Habtoor building on Abu Dhabi Corniche”, the state news agency Wam reported.
On December 1 last year, the blood-covered body of Ms Ryan, a mother of three, was found in the toilets near the Waitrose supermarket in Boutik Mall.
Her twin sons, aged 11, had been waiting for her in the mall.
That evening, a home-made nail bomb was found at the door of a doctor’s flat in the Habtoor building.
Mr Kubaish said Ms Abdullah was believed to have placed the bomb, which failed to detonate.
She is also accused of collecting bomb materials and starting an internet account “under a pseudonym with a view to promoting ideas of a terrorist group”.
She was arrested by Abu Dhabi CID on December 4.
Mr Kubaish said Ms Abdullah had decided to commit murder in a mall to affect as many people as possible. He said she had listened to speeches by Osama bin Laden and watched footage of executions by terrorists.
Mr Kubaish said she chose her victim after a conversation to identify her accent, then accompanied her to the bathrooms and stabbed her to death.
The Attorney General said she left the crime scene and headed to the Corniche, where her 4x4 was parked. She had learnt that tenants in one of the apartments were foreigners, so she left her bomb at the door after lighting the fuse.
The bomb was discovered, disabled and dismantled.
He said Ms Abdullah confessed in detail to all of the crimes.
“This came following investigations led by the general prosecution, which revealed that prior to committing the crime she had listened to audio lectures by Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab Al Zarqawi [Al Qaeda’s late founder in Iraq],” Mr Kubaish said.
He said Ms Abdullah had watched videos of executions by terrorist groups and read articles about extremists that greatly influenced her.
“She began fervently supporting such subversive ideas and believed that terrorists embraced the ideology of jihad,” Mr Kubaish said.
“She then decided to engage in a terrorist act in support of the activities of two terrorist organisations by the names of Al Qaeda and ISIL.”
She created an online account under a pseudonym “on the website of an online forum gathering members of terrorist groups that adopt violence as an ideology”, he said.
“She communicated with its members who are terrorists and participated in the publishing of videos, articles, photos and comments supporting the terrorist ideology and marking a clear preference for it, and calling others to convert to it.”
Mr Kubaish said she intended to damage the reputation of the UAE and all it stood for.
The Attorney General said that the accused donated funds to Al Qaeda to finance terrorist operations inside the UAE.
“The accused committed her crime against a foreign resident in a shopping centre to spread terror among both expatriate residents and visitors, and embarrass and undermine the state authorities globally,” he said.
newsdesk@thenational.ae
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Industry: Food Technology
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Total Clients: Over 50
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'Young girls thinking of big ideas'
Words come easy for aspiring writer Afra Al Muhairb. The business side of books, on the other hand, is entirely foreign to the 16-year-old Emirati. So, she followed her father’s advice and enroled in the Abu Dhabi Education Council’s summer entrepreneurship course at Abu Dhabi University hoping to pick up a few new skills.
“Most of us have this dream of opening a business,” said Afra, referring to her peers are “young girls thinking of big ideas.”
In the three-week class, pupils are challenged to come up with a business and develop an operational and marketing plan to support their idea. But, the learning goes far beyond sales and branding, said teacher Sonia Elhaj.
“It’s not only about starting up a business, it’s all the meta skills that goes with it -- building self confidence, communication,” said Ms Elhaj. “It’s a way to coach them and to harness ideas and to allow them to be creative. They are really hungry to do this and be heard. They are so happy to be actually doing something, to be engaged in creating something new, not only sitting and listening and getting new information and new knowledge. Now they are applying that knowledge.”
Afra’s team decided to focus their business idea on a restaurant modelled after the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Each level would have a different international cuisine and all the meat would be halal. The pupils thought of this after discussing a common problem they face when travelling abroad.
“Sometimes we find the struggle of finding halal food, so we just eat fish and cheese, so it’s hard for us to spend 20 days with fish and cheese,” said Afra. “So we made this tower so every person who comes – from Africa, from America – they will find the right food to eat.”
rpennington@thenational.ae
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Wednesday (Kick-offs UAE)
FC Copenhagen (0) v Istanbul Basaksehir (1) 8.55pm
Shakhtar Donetsk (2) v Wolfsburg (1) 8.55pm
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Thursday
Bayer Leverkusen (3) v Rangers (1) 8.55pm
Sevilla v Roma (one leg only) 8.55pm
FC Basel (3) v Eintracht Frankfurt (0) 11pm
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Expo 2020 Dubai will be the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia
The world fair will run for six months from October 20, 2020 to April 10, 2021.
It is expected to attract 25 million visits
Some 70 per cent visitors are projected to come from outside the UAE, the largest proportion of international visitors in the 167-year history of World Expos.
More than 30,000 volunteers are required for Expo 2020
The site covers a total of 4.38 sqkm, including a 2 sqkm gated area
It is located adjacent to Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai South
The BIO
Favourite piece of music: Verdi’s Requiem. It’s awe-inspiring.
Biggest inspiration: My father, as I grew up in a house where music was constantly played on a wind-up gramophone. I had amazing music teachers in primary and secondary school who inspired me to take my music further. They encouraged me to take up music as a profession and I follow in their footsteps, encouraging others to do the same.
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Favourite holiday destination: Italy - music and opera is so much part of the life there. I love it.
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The specs
Brief scores:
Toss: Sindhis, elected to field first
Pakhtoons 137-6 (10 ov)
Fletcher 68 not out; Cutting 2-14
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Perera 47; Sohail 2-18
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SPEC SHEET
Display: 6.8" edge quad-HD dynamic Amoled 2X, Infinity-O, 3088 x 1440, 500ppi, HDR10 , 120Hz
Processor: 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1/Exynos 2200, 8-core
Memory: 8/12GB RAM
Storage: 128/256/512GB/1TB
Platform: Android 12
Main camera: quad 12MP ultra-wide f/2.2, 108MP wide f/1.8, 10MP telephoto f/4.9, 10MP telephoto 2.4; Space Zoom up to 100x, auto HDR, expert RAW
Video: 8K@24fps, 4K@60fps, full-HD@60fps, HD@30fps, super slo-mo@960fps
Front camera: 40MP f/2.2
Battery: 5000mAh, fast wireless charging 2.0 Wireless PowerShare
Connectivity: 5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC
I/O: USB-C
SIM: single nano, or nano and SIM, nano and nano, eSIM/nano and nano
Colours: burgundy, green, phantom black, phantom white, graphite, sky blue, red
Price: Dh4,699 for 128GB, Dh5,099 for 256GB, Dh5,499 for 512GB; 1TB unavailable in the UAE
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Best Women's Player of the Year: Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)
Best Men's Club of the Year: Chelsea
Best Women's Club of the Year: Barcelona
Best Defender of the Year: Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus/Italy)
Best Goalkeeper of the Year: Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG/Italy)
Best Coach of the Year: Roberto Mancini (Italy)
Best National Team of the Year: Italy
Best Agent of the Year: Federico Pastorello
Best Sporting Director of the Year: Txiki Begiristain (Manchester City)
Player Career Award: Ronaldinho
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3.45pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 1,200m; Winner: Amang Alawda, Sandro Paiva, Bakhit Al Ketbi.
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Ticket prices
- Golden circle - Dh995
- Floor Standing - Dh495
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What are the GCSE grade equivalents?
- Grade 9 = above an A*
- Grade 8 = between grades A* and A
- Grade 7 = grade A
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- Grade 4 = grade C
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