JERUSALEM: A Jerusalem court today [Dec 30] ruled that Dennis Michael Rohan, 28-year-old Australian, found guilty of setting fire to Al-Aqsa Mosque last August, was mentally unstable and should be confined to a mental hospital. The judgement said that Rohan was not responsible for his actions when he set fire to the mosque. He was acting “under an irresistible impulse and was unable to control himself”.

The judgement listed six points. (1) The accused is mentally unstable. (2) When he committed the criminal act he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. (3) Because of his sickness the accused suffered from illusions which led him to live in a world of fantasy with false standards. (4) At the moment of his crime the accused was in a serious psychological condition and acted without free choice. (5) The accused committed the criminal act under an uncontrollable psychological impulse. (6) The impulse under which Rohan acted was due to his mental sickness and, in consequence, the accused cannot be punished for the acts of which he is guilty.

Rohan set fire to the mosque in the heart of Jerusalem on Aug 21 by pouring petroleum on the floor and setting it alight. The incident caused a wave of resentment in the Islamic world.

Published in Dawn, December 31st, 2019