Dubai: A man lost his appeal and will spend a life sentence for stabbing his friend 35 times and killing him before revealing the murder to the victim’s brother over the phone.

The 23-year-old Iranian repeatedly stabbed his countryman in the upper part of his body in a flat they shared in Satwa in March 2014, killing him.

The man then left the murder scene and phoned the victim’s brother in Iran to inform him that he had killed his brother and was waiting for someone from their clan to kill him in revenge.

In April, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the 23-year-old of premeditated murder and jailed him for life.

Forensic examiners said the victim sustained several cuts in both arms, sustained in fighting back the assailant [A.H.] in an attempt to fend off the knife attacks.

He died of stab wounds to his neck, head, chest and abdomen, which proved fatal, according to the examiner.

The defendant appealed the primary judgement before the Appeal Court and sought to have his sentence reduced.

On Wednesday, presiding Judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm dismissed the killer’s appeal and upheld his sentence.

The accused will be deported following the completion of his sentence.

The blood parents’ [successors of the victim] civil lawsuit was referred to the Dubai Civil Court.

The victim’s elder brother testified that he learnt about the crime from the killer himself.

“I was in Iran when the accused called me and told me that he had killed my brother. He said that now he would wait for someone from our clan to go and kill him in revenge. He asked me to come to Dubai and meet him at his detention place. I flew in to Dubai and visited him at the police station where he had been detained... when I asked him why he had killed my brother, he did not respond. However, he expressed his penitence for what he had done,” the brother said.

A police lieutenant said that police found the victim’s body in a pool of blood in the corridor of the second floor of the building.

“The deceased looked in his 20s and we found him face down. Blood covered the walls and the floor,” he testified.

Court records showed that the case was handled first by the Dubai Misdemeanours Court before it was later transferred to the Court of First Instance.

The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 30 days.