Father of three-year-old rape and murder victim describes 'relief' after rapist was executed

Father of three-year-old rape and murder victim describes 'relief' after rapist was executed
Al-Maghrabi who was executed at 41 was being punished for kidnapping, raping and killing his neighbour’s three-year-old daughter Rana.
2 min read
04 August, 2017
Al-Maghrabi was executed for kidnapping, raping and killing his neighbour’s three-year-old [Getty]
Yahya Almatari stood close in front of his neighbour Muhammad al-Maghrabi to witness the last few moments before he executed by gunshot. 

Almatari felt a sigh of relief as his neighbour was declared dead. Al-Maghrabi who was executed at 41-years of age was being punished for kidnapping, raping and killing his neighbour’s three-year-old daughter Rana. 

The paedophile was forced to lie face down on a rug with his hands tied behind his back while what appeared to be a Revolutionary Guard stood over him with an AK-47 machine gun. He looked distressed before the gunshot was fired.

“I feel as if I have been reborn,” Almatari told MailOnline after witnessing the execution. 

“This is the first day of my life. I am relieved now.”

Other family members had gathered with a crowd of thousands in support of the Almatari family, chanting "long live justice" as al-Maghrabi was being executed.

“I watched my daughter Rana's killer being executed in Tahrir Square in Sanaa then I went with the men of my family and neighbours and some of the people in the crowd to the hospital where Rana was in the morgue. 

"We took her small body and buried her in the nearby cemetery. My wife Jamileh and I are grateful to God. Justice and the ruling of Allah have been done.”

Almatari insists that without the death penalty, and “the ruling of Allah”, justice would have never been served.

Just days after Rana was brutally murdered, a Yemeni MP and cleric sparked a major uproar online after posting a Facebook post entitled “clothing of young girls is a gateway to rape”.

Abdullah al-Adaini was met with widespread criticism for suggesting the “absurd” way in which young girls dress leads to their rape.

“How many young girls have been raped due to the effects their clothing has had on the human animals [who rape them],” he wrote on Facebook. “The result [of these clothing] is a girl living in the ruins of psychological conditions, deformities or death."