An Omani court referred its secret verdict on a German...

An Omani court referred its secret verdict on a German woman physiotherapist, Dana Gerlish, and her alleged lover, a wheelchair-bound Omani, to the grand mufti, normal procedure for death sentences, a court source said. The verdict against the two, both in their 30s and accused of murdering Gerlish's father, would be made public on July 17.
"In the meantime, the Grand Mufti Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed al-Khalili, should look into the case and has to give his opinion," the source added.
The mufti is authorised to either uphold the sentence or reduce it. He reviews such cases along with the sultanate's top two legal and criminal affairs advisors, said the source, requesting anonymity.
Referring a verdict to the grand mufti "is a normal procedure in cases where the death penalty is involved," the source said, adding, "you can only deduce that it's the death penalty."
Three Omanis who were alleged accomplices also faced murder charges in the trial, which opened on March 13.
The verdict was decided in a brief session on May 8 in the presence of all five defendants, officials and numerous lawyers, the source said.
The prosecution had alleged that Gerlish, who pleaded not guilty to premeditated murder, decided to have her father killed because he opposed the relationship with her alleged lover, whose name had not been divulged in Omani media.
Gert Manfred Gerlish, 53, a car mechanic, was shot in the head at point blank range in Muscat's upmarket Qurum district in early December 2003.