International
Lauren Patterson murder: Qatar court upholds death sentence
Miss Patterson was killed after a night out in Doha.
A Qatari man who stabbed a British teacher to death and burned her body is set to be executed after a court upheld his death sentence.
Badr Hashim Khamis Abdallah al Jabr was found guilty of killing Lauren Patterson, 24, and dumping her body in a desert near Doha in October 2013.
Jabr met Miss Patterson at a hotel in the Qatari capital and later allegedly sexually assaulted her before stabbing her to death with a seven-inch blade.
He took her body to a desert and burned it on charcoal bricks with the help of accomplice Mohamed Abdallah Hassan Abdul Aziz, who was later jailed for three years.
In 2014, Jabr was found guilty of stabbing Miss Patterson to death, before his conviction was quashed and a retrial was ordered.
A court in Doha has upheld the original verdict, saying Jabr should be executed by hanging or shooting.
Use of capital punishment is rare in Qatar, with the last known case of the death penalty being carried out in 2003.
In a verdict read out in court, the judge dismissed all aspects of Jabr’s defence.
Lawyers representing the Qatari had argued that he had acted in self-defence, was mentally incapable at the time of the murder and that Miss Patterson had committed suicide.
But the judge said “several consequential strands of evidence” proved Jabr’s guilt.
Miss Patterson’s mother, Alison, wept as details of the crime were read out and later hugged other family members and friends who were present.
On a campaign site for her daughter, she said: “Thankfully justice has prevailed for Lauren.
“Due to the thoroughness of the judicial system here the likelihood of another appeal is highly unlikely. (I am) praying that is the case.
“Thank you to everyone for all your amazing support without all of you I don’t know how I would have got this far.”
