Zvi Kogan, a 40-year-old Israeli who served as an emissary of theChabad-Lubavitch movement, was abducted in Dubai in January. His body was found three days later in the city of Al Ain. Israeli authorities said the killing was an antisemitic terror attack.
Olympi Tohirovich, 28; Mahmoudjon Abd al-Rahim, 28; and Azizbek Kamilovich, 33, were arrested in Turkey shortly after the murder and later extradited to the UAE.
Reports of their sentencing circulated on social media in recent days, including a recording posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, in which one of the men allegedly informs his mother and sister of the death sentence. “All three of us received the death penalty,” the man says in the recording. “On this holy night, I want to tell you something else — trust in Allah. Ask people to forgive us and to be satisfied with us.” His mother and sister are heard weeping during the conversation, as he urges them to “be patient and pray to Allah for us.”
Until now, there had been no official confirmation of the sentences. Israeli diplomatic sources told reporters on Sunday that the UAE had indeed imposed the death penalty on the three men, who were initially suspected of committing serious crimes punishable by death.
Authorities in the UAE have not publicly stated a motive for the killing. Israel maintains it was a terrorist act motivated by antisemitism.
“We don’t even know what to think. We’re in shock. Broken. Devastated,” said Aharon Shpilman, Kogan’s brother-in-law, in an interview with Israeli news outlet Ynet. “We truly want the Messiah to come. We want good things to happen. My sister is in exactly the kind of state you’d imagine — and worse.”