The United Arab Emirates has sentenced three Uzbek nationals to death after they were convicted of murdering a Chabad emissary in the country, Israeli officials confirmed Sunday.
Zvi Kogan, a 40-year-old Israeli who served as an emissary of the Chabad-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.”
