Haifa District Court sentenced Ahmed Ashrid, 46, of Deir Hanna in the Galilee region to life imprisonment for the murder of his ex-wife in November 2004.

Sahara Hatib, 37, was the mother of Ashrid's three children. The court rejected the defense's claim that Ashrid stabbed her to death during psychotic episode, despite the fact that he suffers from schizophrenia.

Ashrid frequently beat Hatib during their twenty-year matrimony. In June 2004, he agreed to move out of their home and into a shed in the house's yard.

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A short time later he requested the agreement be reversed, and demanded he be awarded half of the house, which Hatib refused to grant him.

In November 2004, Ashrid entered the house secretly and heard Hatib speaking to an unknown man on the phone. He left the house and returned later that night, armed with a large knife.

Ashrid then entered Hatib's bedroom and locked the door. The pair argued, and he stabbed her 17 times, mostly in the face and neck. Upon hearing their mother's screams for help, the children tried unsuccessfully to open the door and rescue her.

The judges' report noted that Ashrid suffers from schizophrenia and a severe personality disorder. However, they ruled that in this case he behaved in a completely rational manner consistent with that seen in most murders. Ashird stabbed his ex-wife to death as a form of revenge, to punish her, and to reclaim his 'honor' as a man.