UAE executes woman convicted of US teacher's murder

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Alaa Bader al-Hashemi, 30, was executed in Abu Dhabi today
She waited for an hour in the restroom for a suitable victim to come in
Ibolya Ryan, 47, was killed while her 11-year-old twin sons were outside
Hashemi went on to plant a bomb at an Egyptian-American doctor's home
She supported Al Qaeda and ISIS and sent money to one terror group

Published: 01:19 EST, 13 July 2015 | Updated: 08:11 EST, 14 July 2015

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A veiled woman who stabbed an American teacher to death in an Abu Dhabi shopping mall toilet before planting a handmade bomb was executed at dawn today.

Emirati Alaa Bader al-Hashemi, 30, had been convicted of killing Ibolya Ryan, a mother-of-three who used to live in Chicago, on December 1 last year.

Hashemi was also found guilty of placing a handmade pipe bomb outside an Egyptian-American doctor's home in the United Arab Emirates capital on the same day - although the device failed to explode.

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Alaa Bader al-Hashemi, pictured in a niqab, is seen walking through the Abu Dhabi shopping mall on the day Ibolya Ryan was stabbed to death, in a still from security camera footage

Hashemi, circled, made her way to the women's restroom, where she is said to have waited for an hour for a suitable victim to enter

The death sentence was approved by President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan last month. The state security court have not revealed how the execution was carried out.

During the trial, the court heard how Hashemi carried a knife into the bathroom of the mall in Abu Dhabi in what police called 'a lone terror attack'.

She waited for Miss Ryan, 47, a kindergarten teacher, to enter the toilet - and tricked her into coming towards her by claiming she needed her help. Then she stabbed her repeatedly.

Miss Ryan's young sons - 11-year-old twins Adam and Aiden - were waiting for her outside the bathroom in the Boutik Mall on Reem Island.

The forensic report shows that she was stabbed in the chest several times. A puncture wound to her right lung caused her death.

Witnesses described the bathroom afterwards as a scene from a horror movie, according to prosecuting lawyers. The knife used in the attack was found near Miss Ryan's body.

Slaughtered: Mother of three Ibolya Ryan, 47, who was an American kindergarten teacher. Her twin sons were waiting for her outside the restroom as she was killed on December 1, 2014

Murder weapon: This knife was found near Miss Ryan's body. Witnesses said the restroom looked like a scene from a horror movie

After the murder, police released video of the killer - who was dressed in a burqa - walking calmly from the mall and into the parking lot.

Two hours later she placed a makeshift bomb outside the front door of an apartment of an American doctor living in the UAE. The device was discovered and dismantled, and no one was hurt.

Hashemi was arrested at her home, where officers said they found bomb-making materials. Blood was also discovered on the steering wheel of her car.

She was captured after being filmed entering a building in Abu Dhabi, pulling a wheeled luggage case, where she was allegedly hiding the bomb.

The court also found her guilty of sending funds to Al-Qaeda in Yemen, knowing that this money would be used for 'terrorist acts'. And it said she used an internet account to spread information that was likely to 'jeopardize' the United Arab Emirates.

Investigators said she had 'listened to lectures by late Al-Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, watched video clips of killings and beheadings', among other activities, according to Attorney General Salem Saeed Kubaish.

Fully veiled Alaa Bader seen walking through shopping mall

Ibolya Ryan with her twin sons Adam and Aiden, who were waiting for her in the Boutik Mall on Reem Island

She 'embraced takfiri and jihadist ideology and then engaged in terrorist acts in support of the terrorist organisations Al-Qaeda and Daesh (ISIS),' he said.

During her trial, Hashemi had asked the court to provide her with psychological help, saying she had 'unreal visions' and would see 'ghost-like people' due to a chronic mental illness.

The court ordered psychiatric tests, which it said showed she was aware of her actions.

Her execution was ordered by Abu Dhabi's Federal Supreme Court, which cannot be appealed - but the death sentence does require the formal approval of the head of state in the UAE, where executions are rare.

After the attack, Miss Ryan's ex-husband Paul and their three children, 13-year-old Timea and 11-year-old Adam and Aiden, spoke about their heartbreak in an interview with the Today show.

'The boys did not realize what happened and did not hear their mother cry for help,' said Paul.

'This lady - I shouldn't even call her a lady - this monster of a person was lying in wait for someone like her for an hour in the bathroom.

'Unfortunately it was my kids' mother.'

The boys hugged each other as they paid tribute to their mother, saying she was a brave woman.