The torture and beating death of a 16-year-old Saudi Arabian boy visiting the United States created misconceptions about Arab culture and the Islamic faith, a prosecutor says.
“Ahmed is no more representative of Saudi Arabia than Jeffrey Dahmer is representative of Wisconsin,” Dunn County District Attorney James Peterson said about Ahmed Al-Qahtani, who pleaded no contest Monday to first-degree reckless homicide in his cousin’s death.
Dahmer was a Milwaukee serial killer who admitted in 1991 to killing 17 young men and boys.
Al-Qahtani, 27, voluntarily agreed to be deported to Saudi Arabia to face further prosecution there and possibly the death penalty.
Abdullah Al-Qahtani, 16, was found dead Nov. 5 in a rented Menomonie home, his body covered with wounds and burns.
Witnesses said Ahmed Al-Qahtani had in the past beaten the boy for failing to properly recite from the Koran, the Islamic holy book.
