Kenyan gets life for murder of US teacher in Qatar

DOHA // A Kenyan security guard was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday for the 2012 murder of American teacher Jennifer Brown in Qatar.

Alvine Moseti Anyona is expected to serve up to 20 years – a typical period for those sentenced to life in the Gulf state – and will then be immediately deported.

The court had offered Brown’s Pennsylvania-based family the option to choose the death penalty as punishment but they declined, saying they were “not cruel”.

They were also told they could choose between compensation – “blood money” under Islamic law – or a pardon.

Brown, 40, was murdered in her company-provided home in November 2012.

She had only arrived in Qatar two months earlier to teach at the English Modern School in the city of Al Wakrah.

Anyona, who was a guard in the building in which Brown lived, confessed to the murder.

But a friend of the defendant who was in court on Tuesday and wished to remain anonymous said that the Kenyan would appeal the verdict.

“He told me he was beaten and he had to admit it. He confessed under duress,” said the friend. “He definitely will appeal.”

The friend added that Anyona had “lots of pain and regrets” about the murder, without specifying what they were.

Anyona, who is from Nairobi and married with a young daughter, had been brought to the courthouse but was not in the dock to hear the verdict read out by the judge.

The friend said that the Kenyan, who is thought to be in his early 30s, was apparently still unaware of the verdict after being taken away.

It was left to Anyona’s friend to tell him the sentence by telephone. The friend said he was not surprised by the court’s decision.

The case has moved slowly through the Qatari legal system and was adjourned several times.

Anyona’s family in Kenya had sent financial support but were unable to fly to Qatar because of the expense.

Brown’s family, who are based in the town of Jim Thorpe, had previously criticised the length of time taken by the authorities in Qatar to prosecute the case.

It was one of two high-profile murder cases involving foreign teachers that have recently passed through the Qatari courts.

Last month, Qatar’s court of appeal upheld a death sentence against a local man convicted of the 2013 murder of Briton Lauren Patterson.

* Agence France-Presse