A death sentence has been carried out on a female jihadist who murdered an American woman in the toilets of a shopping mall in Abu Dhabi.

Alaa Bader al Hashemi, 30, was executed at dawn for the murder of Iboyla Ryan, a 47-year-old nursery school teacher from Colorado, state media reported.

Hashemi, from the United Arab Emirates, stabbed mother-of-twins Ms Ryan in the UAE capital in December last year, a court found last month.

President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan approved the death sentence which was issued at the end of the trial.

Hashemi's legal team had claimed that she needed psychological help, saying she had "unreal visions" and would see "ghost-like people" due to a chronic mental illness she suffered from, according to local daily The National.

But Emirati authorities say she embraced "jihadist ideology and then engaged in terrorist acts in support of terrorist organisations" such as al Qaeda and Islamic State.

She was also charged with attempting to murder an American doctor of Egyptian origin by planting a bomb outside his apartment.

The two attacks took place within hours of each other in the UAE capital on 1 December.

Other charges included financing terrorist organisations in the UAE, collecting explosive materials and creating an internet account to promote terrorist ideas.

Hashemi was tracked down after CCTV footage showed her going in and out of the restroom where Ms Ryan's murder took place.

Footage released soon after the attack showed a figure, in full black veil, entering the mall shortly after 1pm and then rushing from the ladies' toilets as shoppers scrambled for the exit.

Police found blood on the steering wheel of Hashemi's car and bomb-making material inside.

A blood-stained butcher's knife was found at the scene, officers said.

Police said at the time of Ms Ryan's murder that her 11-year-old twins were being kept in protective custody until their father, who was the victim's ex-husband, arrived in the country.