JERUSALEM (JTA) — A former Yemeni Air Force officer confessed to killing a Jewish citizen.
Abdul Aziz Yahya Hamoud Al-Abdi, 39, confessed Dec. 18 in a Yemen court to the Sept. 11 murder of Masha Ya’ish Al-Nahari, according to the Yemen Times.
On Monday, the judge in the case ordered Al-Abdi to go for a medical checkup to determine if he is competent to stand trial. His lawyers argued that he was menally unfit.
Al-Abdi justified his actions by saying that he "enabled [the victim] to choose between embracing Islam, leaving the country or being killed," the paper said. He also sent a threatening letter to the Jewish community of Yemen telling them to embrace Islam or leave the country.
A few hundred Jews still live in Yemen.
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