High court rejects serial killer's appeal, upholds death verdict

The Gulf News

March 1, 2004

The death sentence has been upheld after an appeal was rejected for a serial killer who murdered five Pakistani taxi drivers and tried to poison three others.

Nawaz was arrested in July 2001 for poisoning five taxi drivers in the suburbs of Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. After his arrest, he confessed to poisoning eight taxi drivers and robbing them from June 21 to July 4, 2000.

Three more victims - Mohammed Sattar Khan, Eid Mohammed Zarmat Khan and Kamaluddin Sharabuddin - survived the ordeal. Two of them later identified their attacker.

The Al Ain Court of First Instance handed down the death penalty on May 29, 2001, after the defendant was found guilty of murder.

The prosecutor pressed for the death sentence. This was finally confirmed on Saturday and referred to the Presidential Court for approval. After approval is granted, Nawaz will be executed.

According to the ruling, the nature of the crime does not permit the killer to get away by paying blood money.

Nawaz used a strong pesticide diluted in soft drinks to poison his victims. After they fell unconscious, he robbed them before leaving them to die in their cars that had no ventilation in the simmering heat.

According to earlier reports, all the victims died within ten minutes after they consumed the poisoned drink. Three victims, Mulazim Hussain Ghulam, Zarmulla Khan and Gul Shameer Khan, came from Wazirstan, a tribal area in the NWFP area of Pakistan.

The other two victims, Aidaz Gul Khan and Khajir Khan Sawar Khan, holding Pakistani passports, were originally Afghan citizens who came from Khost in the southern province of Pakthia.

During Nawaz's reign of terror, many taxi drivers in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain refused to take passengers to remote areas, fearing for their lives until the murderer was caught. Some even refused to take lone passengers.