Crime

Fake Currency

2009-03-06T19:02:00.000+03:00

A visitng Nigerian stood trial on Thursday at the the Criminal Court of First Instance on the charge of possessing fake currency. The 30-year-old defendant has been charged for possession of 32 counterfeit $100 bills on November 2 last year.

He pleaded not guilty saying he was not aware the money was fake.

The next hearing is slated for April 2.

An Indian accountant at an exchange centre in the Naif area said when he was on duty at 9.30am, the defendant approached the counter to change $14,200 into dirhams of which 32 $100 bills were counterfeit.

The accountant said that on verification, the notes were found to be fakes and the exchange company immediately called the police.

Baby girl found abandoned in a mosque

2008-06-13T12:37:00.001+03:00

A new-born baby girl was found abandoned in the ladies’ wing of a mosque in Ras Al Khaimah on Wednesday evening.

Major Aref Al Kaazi, from the Criminal Investigation Department of Ras Al Khaimah Police, said the baby was believed to have been abandoned in the mosque by her parents who left a note in Arabic stating that any good samaritan could take the new-born and look after her. He said a local woman, who had gone to the mosque for the Maghreb prayers on Wednesday, found the baby girl and informed police. The baby was taken to Saqr Hospital where the doctors declared her in good health. The hospital has been instructed to keep samples of the baby’s blood and preserve her DNA while investigations are being carried out to locate the child’s mother.

Major Nasser Soufah, in charge of crime registrations in the CID, said this was not the first time that a baby had been found abandoned. During 2005 and 2006, four infants were found abandoned, but last year no such case took place.

/Khaleej Times/

Abu Dhabi court sentences swindler to one year in jail

2008-06-09T19:17:00.000+03:00

The Abu Dhabi Court of First Instance sentenced a money swindler to one year jail in addition to a fine of Dh50, 000.

The swindler, identified as M.F.M.B, was found guilty of running an unlicensed “financial investment” service, a project which enabled him to collect money from UAE nationals and expatriates. He regularly paid profits of up to 70 per cent to gain confidence of his victims and lure more investors.

Banned from any commercial activities for two years, the swindler will be deported from the UAE after serving his jail term.

An official source at the office of the General Prosecutor’s Chamber has warned against such bogus financial investment companies: “We hope the general public would not be gullible to believe in such schemes.”
He said such activities will be met with the full force of the law.

/Gulf News/

Wafi robbery: Man jailed for 10 years

2008-06-09T17:12:00.002+03:00

A company owner will spend 10 years in prison after a court found him involved in last year's Dh14.7 million armed robbery at a jewellery store in Wafi City.

The Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced Serb national N.M., 33, to 10 years in jail after he was named as an accomplice to an unidentified number of fugitives in the raid in April 2007. He will be deported after serving his punishment.

Presiding Judge Fahmi Mounir said the defendant will pay Dh20,000 in temporary compensation to Graff jewellery store.

Meanwhile, the court acquitted N.M.'s compatriot visitor, M.M., 52, for lack of evidence.

The judge referred the civil compensation claim, lodged by Graff's legal representative Abdul Moniem Bin Suwaidan to the Dubai Civil Court.

"Ten years! Ten years!" exclaimed N.M., looking at his family members who attended yesterday's hearing as court guards escorted him out of the dock.

"I will definitely appeal the verdict," N.M.'s lawyer Ali Abdullah Al Shamsi told Gulf News.

The Public Prosecution's arraignment sheet charged N.M. with aiding and abetting a number of unidentified robbers who stole two cars, drove into the Wafi City at about 10pm and brought down the jewellery shop's glass front by crashing the car into it.

The robbers were wearing masks and used toy guns to terrorise shop attendants. They smashed the display cases with iron tools, snatched the contents and fled.

Law enforcement officers tracked down the two Serbs and referred them to court.

Not linked

Meanwhile it is believed that four unidentified suspects are still at large and police are hunting them.

According to the verdict, the court was convinced that the accused was aware of the heist as he escorted them to stores on Shaikh Zayed Road and other areas where they bought the tools for the robbery and black abayas which the escapees reportedly used to mask themselves during the heist.

M.M. was charged with possessing stolen jewel-lery. The court discharged M.M. because charges against him were uncorroborated.

"My client is not linked to the crime or the four main suspects who are still absconding ... My client stopped contacting the fugitives two weeks prior to the crime," Al Shamsi said.

He argued that his client was questioned by the police and the Public Prosecution unlawfully because no Serb translator was present.

/Gulf News/

Zayed University launches cyber crime grad programs

2008-06-04T19:34:00.001+03:00

Zayed University in the UAE has launched three new graduate programs focused on IT security. The new programs, which are being offered by the College of Information Technology, and its US partner George Washington University, cover information, security, cyber security and high tech crime investigation.

While the Graduate Certificate in Information Security is focused on more traditional areas of network infrastructure security, the other two courses, the MS in Information Technology with specialization in Cyber Security and the Graduate Certificate in High Technology Crime Investigation are intended to introduce additional professional skills and capabilities in the prevention and detect crimes that are carried out online or that use computers in some way.

Dr Leon Jololian, acting dean of College of Information Technology said: "The increase of high technology crime has generated an urgent need for a new type of investigator who can combine the science of information technology and forensic science with the art of investigations and critical thinking. Today, any crime that involves a computer as a part of the crime, as the crime itself or as the storage place for evidence, may be part of an investigation.

"This is a critical need for the UAE. and the Gulf region. Graduates of the program will be prepared to work in local, state, national and international organizations in the public and corporate sectors. They will have the skills to investigate a variety of cases that include identity theft, fraud, child exploitation, money laundering and violent crimes," he added.

The programs will commence from October this year.

ITP.net

Dubai Police brings the Wafi Jewellery robbery suspect from Germany

2008-05-23T07:49:00.000+03:00

After 13 months from the armed robbery of a jewellery shop at Dubai's Wafi Mall, Dubai Police have succeeded in bringing back from Germany, the prime suspect who allegedly led the gang of robberers.

The arrest of Zivato Andrea, of Eastern European origin, was made possible by the cooperation of German Police as per request from Dubai's CID. The man, who used a fictitious name, had fled the country shortly after the incident.

The night robbery was carried out in April last year during busy shopping hours. The robberers came in two cars and smashed into the glass panes of the Graff jewellery store. The armed men in black clothes and masks then took control of the store and stole jewellery worth Dh14.7 million. They drove off to the Za'abeel area and abandoned the stolen cars there.

Dubai police could arrest of two suspects in the UAE, but the prime suspect was still at large.

The investigations by Dubai CID led to Germany, where the suspect was hiding. German Police worked jointly with Dubai Police and the culprit was arrested earlier in June. He was produced before a German court, which ordered to hand over the culprit to UAE authorities.

/WAM/

Court quashes prison term of Emirati

2008-05-22T21:10:00.001+03:00

The Dubai Court of Appeals has quashed the one-year jail term awarded by the Criminal Court of First Instance to an Emirati H.H. for illegally possessing medicines without a prescription. The court also reduced the fine from Dh20,000 to Dh3,000.

The defence lawyer, Jassem Naqabi, deemed the arrest of the defendant as invalid as he was not caught redhanded.

He said that H.H. did not act with criminal intention and pointed out that his client was using the pills as sedatives.

H.H. was arrested in the Muraqqabat area in an inebriated condition on January 4 this year.

On frisking the suspect, the police officers recovered medicines for which he had no prescription.
/Khaleej Times/

Over 7000 illegal stayers arrested in Dubai over last two months

2008-05-20T05:51:00.000+03:00

Some 7,830 illegal stayers were apprehended in Dubai over the last two months, Police sources have revealed.

Sources at the Dubai Police's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) said the violators of immigration laws were nabbed during raids launched under operation codenamed the ''Deterrent Ring''.

He affirmed the crackdown on violators would continue.

The aim is to maintain security and prevent crime,''the sources added.
/WAM/

Combating Human Trafficking United Arab Emirates Annual Report 2007

2008-05-19T13:37:00.002+03:00

Introduction

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a committed and responsible member of the international community and aims to take a lead in the global fight to combat human trafficking.

The report

"Combating Human Trafficking in the United Arab Emirates 2007 has been produced by the National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking and aims to serve as an information tool about the United Arab Emirates' stand on the human trafficking issue, its efforts to combat it and the obstacles and challenges the UAE has encountered. The country's resolve to fight trafficking at home and abroad in collaboration with international partners remains central to the UAE's anti-trafficking strategy. The aim of the publication is therefore to share the UAE's efforts with our partners and promote dialogue, transparency and knowledge exchange in order to also learn from the experiences of other nations in combating this crime.

The term ''trafficking'' was used as early as the end of the 19th century. Since then, there has been much debate on how to clearly define trafficking and what practices can actually be addressed in both national and international legislation.

The UAE Federal Law 51 of 2006, the first law of its kind in the region, defines trafficking in Article One as ''recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving persons by means of threat or use of force, or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or of position, taking advantage of the vulnerability of the person, or, the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person for the purpose of exploitation, engaging others in prostitution, servitude, forced labour, enslavement, quasi-slavery practices, or the detachment of organs.''

This definition is closely aligned with the definition outlined in the Palermo Protocol and by other international legislation.

As part of its comprehensive national and international strategy to combat trafficking, the UAE has ratified the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (2000). Furthermore, the Cabinet has also approved the ratification of the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (Palermo Protocol), which is one of the two protocols attached to the Organized Crime Convention.

The UAE fully endorses that all measures against trafficking in persons, especially women and children, must be consistent with internationally recognized principles of non-discrimination and that they take into account the respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of victims. The UAE, along with the international community, strongly condemns "all work or services, which is extracted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily" as defined by the International Labour Organization (ILO) Forced Convention (No. 29), 1930, and enshrined in the UAE Federal Law 51, as well as the UAE Federal Labour Law.

Human trafficking is an issue that affects many countries and the UAE is no exception. It is a fact that several million workers are being subject to various types of abuse and exploitation around the world. The first international report on human trafficking by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) concluded in 2006 that "virtually no country is immune" to this phenomenon. The document identified 127 countries as sources of trafficking victims and 137 countries as destinations, including developed and developing countries.

The UAE firmly stands against both the exploitation of human beings for sexual purposes and the exploitation of workers through coercive, illegal and inhumane measures. Aside from the UAE?s commitment to international standards, the freedom of individuals from exploitation or coercion is enshrined in our Islamic heritage and cultural belief system. Trafficking is a problem that transcends national borders. It involves countries of origin, transit and final destination. This means that no country or region acting alone can eradicate this crime. To be truly effective, combating trafficking requires cross-border cooperation with the involvement of governments, international agencies, non-governmental organizations and the private sector. Policies can only be effective when the national legislation created to implement them addresses the actualities on the ground.

Separate, but inter-related : The UAE believes that the commercial impetus of trafficking in persons must be addressed in any national legislation and policy. Trafficking is a thriving global business that generates billions of dollars a year encouraging the trafficking of nearly a million people across international borders annually. The ILO estimates that it is linked to other organized crimes like human smuggling, drug trafficking, and money laundering. Approximately 80 percent of those trafficked are women and girls, and up to 50 percent are children. The majority of transnational victims are trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation and the rest into forced labour.

Migration, smuggling and trafficking are separate issues that raise different challenges for policy makers but are often misused or interchangeably used in the international debate on trafficking. The UAE, as a result of its recent economic boom, receives large numbers of temporary contractual workers every year. These workers are admitted into the country contingent on their possession of term-limited employment contracts and, while they do not hold immigrant status, they are nevertheless considered subject to the protection and measures of UAE labour law during their time of residence in the country.

Labour migration, increasingly referred to as labour mobility is a movement of workers from their country of origin to a country of destination for the purpose of engaging in gainful employment. When the transfer of workers is effected in accordance with duly established exit and entry controls in the country of origin and destination, respectively, migrant workers typically engage in freely elected employment, When, on the other hand, such transfer is effected outside due process, the migrant worker is typically assisted by smugglers who facilitate illegal entry into a country for a fee and disappear. Faced with the prospects of being penalized by the authorities of the country of destination, the illegal worker becomes vulnerable to exploitative and sometimes involuntary employment.

On the other hand, trafficking in persons is fundamentally different as it involves the movement of people for the intended purposes of extracting involuntary or forced labour or otherwise exploiting their work or services. For the majority of trafficked persons it is only once they arrive in the country of destination that they realize that the work they were promised does not exist and they are forced instead to work in jobs or conditions to which they did not consent. The deceit begins from the time they leave their home countries. The importance of partnering with source and transit countries to combat this phenomenon is therefore paramount and central to the UAE?s national strategy.

Track Record The UAE believes that human trafficking is a despicable crime and it will continually strive to combat the practice of trafficking in any form. Although a young country, the UAE?s laws on this issue strive to adhere to international standards. The UAE's efforts are not perfect, but they are a work in progress, as is the case in many developed and developing countries globally. The UAE is committed to doing everything in its power to help stop human trafficking wherever it occurs and to aggressively interdict those who are responsible for it under the toughest possible penalties.

Perpetrators of human trafficking operate across national borders and significant international collaboration is required to combat this crime. The UAE is fully cooperating with all appropriate international and regional law enforcement officials to apprehend and punish anyone who violates the UAE's human trafficking laws. This cooperation also extends to ensuring the swift prosecution of human traffickers who may attempt to use the UAE as a conduit to violate the anti-trafficking laws of other countries. The UAE, like many other nations, acknowledges that it faces challenges in these efforts to fight human trafficking and that it has much work to do. While the anti-trafficking laws are stringent, the dynamic growth in the Gulf region has created pressure on available human resources to enforce these laws.

In parallel to the UAE's tough stand on anyone convicted of trafficking, the UAE is deeply concerned about the victims of this crime and their physical and emotional well-being. We are committed to the development of ongoing nationwide social support programs that protect and care for these victims, humanely, promptly, and justly. Identified victims are also being provided all possible financial and human resources to support, strengthen, and expand initiatives that seek to help them at every level.

Since a trafficking conviction is heavily reliant on victim testimony and victims of such a trauma are often too frightened to report the atrocities they have faced, the UAE is trying to facilitate access for any possible victim of trafficking to come forward to the authorities and social support networks in an environment that is secure and comfortable. The UAE endeavors to improve all aspects of this process including providing training for law enforcement officers in victim interviewing and identification.

Four-pillar action plan :

In tackling this global phenomenon, the UAE is proactively implementing a four-pillared action plan to combat human trafficking. Despite societal and cultural sensitivities associated with human trafficking, the issue is increasingly being addressed publicly in the UAE by both the government and media. The UAE is not ashamed to admit that the problem of trafficking afflicts this country as it does many other countries. It would be wrong, however, if immediate action is not taken once the crime is recognized and the UAE is therefore pursuing an active and results-oriented strategy that aims to achieve immediate impact.

The new comprehensive action plan rests on the following four pillars:

I. Legislation

II. Enforcement

III. Victim Support

IV. Bilateral Agreements and International Partnerships

Pillar I:

Legislation The UAE anti-human trafficking law " Federal Law 51 of November 2006 is the first of its kind in the region. The law takes into account the existing federal laws on entry and residency of foreigners, labour, camel races and criminal procedures, as well as the penal code. It calls for strong punitive measures, including maximum penalties of life imprisonment and covers all forms of human trafficking " not just overt enslavement but also sexual exploitation, child labour, and commerce in human organs. A life sentence is also imposed if the crime is committed through deceit, if it involves the use of force or threat of murder or bodily harm, or if it involves physical or psychological torture.

The 16-article law spells stiff penalties against traffickers ranging from one year to life in prison and fines of 100,000 dirhams and one million dirhams (US$ 27,500 and US$ 275,000).

Other salient features of Federal Law 51 include: "Article One of the law defines human trafficking as an act of exploitation and coercion " Exploitation is defined to include exploitation for sex, engaging others in prostitution, servitude, forced labour, enslavement, quasi-slavery practices, or detachment of organs " An organized criminal gang is defined as a group of three or more people who collaborate to carry out a premeditated act with the intent of committing a human trafficking crime for the sake of gaining directly or indirectly financial or any other material benefit ? A crime is adjudged to be transnational if it is: o Committed in more than one country o Committed in one country but preparation, planning, direction and supervision were carried out from another country o Committed in one country but the perpetrators were an organized criminal gang involved in criminal activities in several countries o Committed in one country but its repercussions impact another country "

Article Two sets an imprisonment term of at least five years for whoever commits a human trafficking crime.

The penalty will be life imprisonment if:

* The perpetrator has created, organized, run, assumed a leading role in, or solicited others to join, an organized criminal gang

* The victim is a female, child (under 18 years), or handicapped

* The crime is committed through deceit, involved the use of force or threat of murder or bodily harm, or involved physical or psychological torture

* The crime is committed by two or more people, or by an armed person

* The perpetrator is a member of an organized criminal gang, or has consciously taken part in the activities of that gang

* The perpetrator is the spouse, a relative, descendent, or guardian of the victim

* The perpetrator is a public servant or commissioned with a public task

* The crime is transnational Article Three spells out a penalty of one to five years in prison and/or a fine of 5,000 dirhams to 20,000 dirhams (US$ 1,400 to US$ 5,500) for anyone who was aware of a plan to commit a human trafficking crime, but failed to inform the concerned authorities.

The law stipulates various imprisonment and fines for a host of acts, including the use or threatened use of force or offering or promising a gift or advantage to prompt others to give false testimony or withhold information, and possessing, harboring or dispensing articles gained through a human-trafficking crime " Corporate entities will be liable to a fine ranging between 100,000 dirhams and one million dirhams (US$ 27,500 and US$ 275,000) if their representatives, managers, or agents committed a human trafficking crime "

According to Article 12, the Council of Ministers shall set up a National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking In addition to Federal Law 51, the UAE also issued Law No. 39 in 2006 on international judicial cooperation, which includes articles on the extradition of suspected or convicted criminals to judicial authorities to try them or execute the sentences given to them. It also provides for mutual judicial assistance in criminal cases, including human trafficking (Articles 6-37). Such cooperation was recorded in at least seven cases during 2007.

Furthermore, the UAE's commitments under international law include becoming a signatory to three of the United Nations Conventions on human rights, including: the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination; the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

UAE National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking : A Cabinet order established the UAE National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking in April 2007 to give teeth to Federal Law 51 and to create a coordinating body for anti-human trafficking efforts at all levels in the seven emirates of the federation. The Committee has held eight meetings since its formation in addition to frequent activities, visits and organized events and workshops. It is headed by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Federal National Council Affairs, Dr. Anwar Gargash. Its members include representatives from the federal ministries of Interior, Foreign Affairs, Labour, Health and Social Affairs, as well as from the State Security Authority and the UAE Red Crescent Society. The responsibilities of the Committee include: " Developing the framework by which the new anti-human trafficking law is implemented. The Committee regularly assesses government implementation procedures and assists in the coordination of government ministries and departments tasked with combating human trafficking crimes. This coordinating role is important in a federal system and reflects an increased emphasis throughout the UAE on collaborative efforts by local and federal government authorities to monitor, track and penalize crimes of human trafficking " Studying and revising human trafficking legislation with the aim of bringing the UAE efforts in line with international standards and improving national legislation to address realties on the ground. The committee has been authorized to prepare reports on efforts taken by the UAE to fight human trafficking and to make recommendations to the Cabinet ? Creating resources to increase public awareness of human trafficking issues " Developing victim sensitivity training for the relevant bodies and individuals dealing with victims of trafficking ? Representing the UAE officially in handling international requests, enquiries, and delegations related to human trafficking issues It is expected that the Committee's activities will encourage additionally progressive and aggressive legislative efforts to assure country-wide compliance with international standards and implementation of the laws that are in place.

Pillar II: Enforcement The UAE federal government and those of the seven individual emirates have emphasized and focused on an awareness-raising drive for the enforcement of anti-human trafficking laws. According to preliminary reports, at least 10 human trafficking-related cases were registered by the end of 2007 under the clauses of Federal Law 51, which came into effect in November 2006. Notably, there were also convictions in at least five cases during this period, with the convicted receiving jail terms ranging from 3 to 10 years for committing, aiding or abetting human trafficking.

With these initial results, the UAE is working harder to gather and deploy the necessary manpower to efficiently increase the number of anti-human trafficking prosecutions. As part of a comprehensive awareness campaign to enhance public and law enforcement knowledge about this crime and explore ways of limiting it, workshops are being conducted by the UAE National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking in cooperation with various law enforcement departments and ministries. These workshops are attended by the relevant departments of naturalization and residency, police and public prosecution.

" A workshop on investigating human trafficking crimes was jointly organized by Dubai Police and a British security services firm in March 2007 " Coinciding with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women in 2007, the Committee announced a detailed schedule of law enforcement capacity building exercises. Two workshops were held in Abu Dhabi and Dubai during December in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice. One of them, a workshop on human trafficking crimes, was conducted in cooperation with the Johns Hopkins University, United States, to improve legislation in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and discuss joint efforts to combat the crime regionally " In collaboration with the Ministry of Interior, a lecture about the relationship between human trafficking and security was held in January 2008 " A five-day training program on human rights and law enforcement was conducted in January 2008 for law enforcement officers " A training program on prevention and control of human trafficking took place in February 2008, and another on investigation methodology is scheduled to be held later this year " A data collection methodology has been finalized to establish a central database for UAE law enforcement officers " Several Emirati law graduates have been selected to undergo special training courses to gain insight into laws dealing with cyber and organized crimes, terrorist activities, human trafficking and human rights issues The UAE also utilizes its established travel and immigration monitoring system to identify potential human trafficking crimes.

This system depends on: " Federal Law No. 6 of 1973 and its amendments, which pertain to the entry and residence of foreigners in the country "

Procedures taken to control the country's points of entry include:

* Not granting entry permits to children from some countries if their names are added on their parents' or relatives'' passports because they are susceptible to abuse. The UAE insists on such children having separate passports and separate entry visas to ensure compliance with the regulations and to enable immigration officers to identify the children during entry and also ensure that they return home with their parents and relatives

* Controlling the re-entry of deported individuals through the Iris Eye Scan technology

* Limiting large numbers of visit visas to relatives and friends of expatriates residing in the country in order to ensure against possible misuse of such privileges.

Tackling demand The UAE National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking is engaged in planning a nation-wide public awareness strategy on the issue of demand in order to foster a partnership with both the public and the media. A number of cases are often brought to the attention of law enforcement agencies through the public and this avenue of partnership will be developed over the next two years. Furthermore, collaboration with foreign embassies and NGOs will aim to highlight the issue in labour-exporting countries in order to prevent trafficking at its source.

The UAE seeks to decrease the demand on the sex industry and clamp down on perpetrators of forced or exploitative labour. Article 34 of the UAE Constitution, for example, states that no human being should be enslaved or forced to work against their will. This article has been the foundation of UAE penal law, which takes action against cases related to human exploitation. This intention is also in line with the Palermo Protocol, which is the first binding international instrument that mentions the need to tackle the demand for sexual and other forms of exploitative services. According to Article 9.5 of the protocol, all "States Parties shall adopt or strengthen legislative or other measures, such as educational, social or cultural measures, including bilateral and multilateral cooperation, to discourage the demand that fosters all forms of exploitation of persons, especially women and children, that leads to trafficking."

In the UAE, police are keeping a vigil on tourist companies which bring women into the country. In fact, there are restrictions and re-checking on the entry into the country of single women less than 30 years old who are more likely to be victims of trafficking. The licenses of companies caught carrying out illegal activities are being cancelled. At least two nightclubs exploiting women were shut down during 2007 and several others are under constant surveillance for any trace of illegal activity. According to data from the Ministry of Interior, the total number of cases of those charged with prostitution in the UAE for 2006 totaled 307, a figure that increased slightly to 398 cases for 2007.

The UAE realizes that a proactive policy of improving standards and regulations overall, apart from being important in itself, will also have a positive impact on decreasing the scale of human trafficking and potentially exploitative incidents from occurring. As a result, the government has introduced a series of measures that are beginning to positively impact the country's labour climate.

Stricter laws against human trafficking and unskilled worker-friendly regulations, which are crucial to discourage exploitation, are increasingly being put in place. Some of the recent worker-friendly measures include: "As of January 2008, salary payments to unskilled workers in the country are being paid electronically by their respective companies. The Electronic Wage Payment System will put an end to cash payment of salaries. This will ensure that monthly wages are paid to all employees without fail and on time, giving the government real time access to information regarding payments of salaries.

Punitive action against companies exploiting workers and abusing their rights is expected to become easier and effective. There are currently 250,000 construction workers benefiting from this system, and many more are likely to be positively impacted by this measure once it is comprehensively implemented.

" Improving working and living conditions ? the UAE has prohibited work in open labour sites during the midday hours during summer. For each violation of this provision, companies are fined 30,000 dirhams (US$ 8,000) and banned from receiving additional contracts for three months. Further, no group labour permits (for 25 or more workers) are processed until applicants demonstrate a tangible commitment to adequate housing for workers. Companies must produce evidence that they actually have plans and resources to provide facilities. Several camps housing migrant workers employed in the construction sector '' which were found to fall short of minimum standards in building, health services, waste disposal, pest control, drinking water and other basic facilities " have been closed. The firms that own or run the camps have been given adequate time to provide replacement accommodation that meet international health and safety standards.

A new unified contract to regulate the rights and duties of domestic workers was enforced in April 2007.

Some of its features are:

o Valid for two years

o Three copies of contract in Arabic and English, with each party having one and a third with the Residency Department

* A month's paid leave in two years and medical aid provision o Unit at Residency Department to arbitrate disputes

* One-way ticket at end of contract / if the contract is ended by the sponsor before its expiry, a ticket and a month's salary shall be paid to the worker. If it is ended by the worker, he or she will be charged for the ticket o Employer to facilitate contact with their families back home/

* Disputes not settled within two weeks to be referred to courts

* Worker's legal rights disregarded if he or she absconds

* Fees charged by recruiting agencies to be checked through coordination with consulates of labour-exporting countries

* In case of death of the domestic worker, employer responsible to repatriate the body of the deceased and personal belongings o Heavy fines of up to 50,000 dirhams (US$14,000) for hiring illegal domestic maids.

A new labour law to protect domestic workers has been drafted by a taskforce as per a Cabinet decree in October 2007 and will be sent to the relevant government bodies for amendments and revisions before promulgation by the UAE President. Domestic workers are mostly comprised of women and vulnerable to exploitation, which is a key concern of the UAE as part of its obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women.

Since January 2008, sponsors of housemaids in Dubai who abet maids in carrying out illegal work will be charged with the crime of human trafficking and face 10 years in jail or more. Previously, sponsors who released their housemaids for a fee to carry out jobs illegally were charged with the crime of selling visit/residence visas.

Creating flexibility for workers to transfer sponsorships to create job mobility.

Setting up of special labour courts for speedy resolution of cases. Together with the labour courts, the government has taken the initiative to establish a representative office located within the courts to act as a liaison point and facilitate the process of solving disputes.

Direct government involvement in negotiations to increase salaries of workers in some sectors.

The UAE intends to do more as demonstrated in the successful launch of the ?Abu Dhabi Dialogue on Temporary Contractual Labour? in January 2008. The conference brought together ministers from 22 countries, including the 11 nations which supply the flow of migratory labour, and the GCC countries that contract with this labour force. Also present were representatives from international organizations, such as the International Organization for Migration (IOM) which co-facilitated the effort with the UAE Ministry of Labour, the International Labour Organization (ILO), and a number of United Nations and regional labour groupings. By inviting representatives from affected countries of origin to face-to-face discussions, delegates were able to assess their "ground realities'' and devise ways to eradicate the problem where it begins. Direct outreach to the workers themselves continues, with training resources to fully apprise them of their rights and means of recourse should they suspect those rights are being violated.

Pillar III: Victim support To ensure that these unequivocally resolute legislation and enforcement mechanism have a human face, the UAE?s holistic approach includes significant initiatives that determine how victims are treated by law enforcement officials, as well as expand the help and welfare programs available to them. The programs are designed to be prompt and just. The government firmly believes that those who are sexually exploited must be treated as victims, protected and supported through counseling and rehabilitation programs. At the same time, whoever drove the concerned person into prostitution or coerced labour will be punished according to UAE law.

The government has a healthy track record of providing assistance and protection to victims of sexual abuse. The police departments provide shelter for these victims and counseling. The government works with foreign governments and NGOs when cases are brought to its attention. Victims have been given protection and shelter while their paperwork is processed, and are then repatriated at the government?s expense under the ?Crime Victim Assistance Program.? Aside from government-headed initiatives, charitable and social networks are also active in the UAE. Some of the significant measures in this regard are: ? Foundation for the Protection of Women and Children: This independent civil society institution in Dubai was established in 2007. The shelter is the first step towards institutionalizing victim support in line with international standards. The shelter is governed by an independent board and has linked up with other shelters in the EU for introducing best standards in shelter management and administration. The foundation plays a vital role in improving social services for victims by providing a refuge to overcome the psychological and physical effects of violence, oppression and neglect. The foundation has an in-house school, which can accommodate up to 300 students; lawns surrounding the complex, where children can play; indoor playroom; a well-equipped gymnasium, as well as football, basketball and volleyball facilities for adults; and an in-house restaurant. In about 10 months since the foundation was established, 115 women and children received assistance after being designated as victims of a number of crimes including human trafficking, domestic violence, family neglect, employer abuse and other social problems. Of these, 28 are suspected victims of trafficking ? 24 have been identified as adults and four have been identified as minors less than 18 years of age. In 2007, the foundation successfully rehabilitated and repatriated three victims with the coordination of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Uzbekistan. By March 2008, three more cases were successfully dealt with and repatriated with the assistance of various authorities and international partners. The foundation is currently sheltering 14 suspected trafficking victims from a variety of countries including Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, India, and Nigeria.

Social Support Center, Abu Dhabi: Operated by the Abu Dhabi Police, this center assists victims of all crimes, including human trafficking. It provides victims - especially women, children and their families ; psychological and social support in coordination with other foundations and organizations.

The Center assisted with 2605 cases during 2007 ' up from 1519 the previous year. The majority of victims were involved in family disputes and domestic violence cases.

Human Rights Care Department, Dubai: Providing social, legal and psychological support to the victims of human trafficking is a key mandate of the Human Rights Care Department, which was established by Dubai Police in 2007 as an extension of a program established in 2003. The investigation, legal assistance and preventive support divisions fulfill the mandate of the department. During 2007, 27 of the 36 people who were identified as human trafficking victims were assisted by this department with a variety of services, including provision of temporary shelter, temporary visas and plane tickets to return home.

Abu Dhabi Shelter for Victims of Human Trafficking: The government has supported the establishment of a new shelter in the capital city of Abu Dhabi in January 2008. The shelter will be established in accordance with international standards and best practices. An executing committee, headed by the UAE Red Crescent Authority has been set up to oversee the establishment of the shelter in collaboration with the UAE National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking. The shelter will aim to provide rehabilitation and protection for women and children victims of trafficking through a complete social care program that provides assistance in medical treatment, psychological care and counselling, access to legal services, temporary secure accommodation, some basic education and training as well as safe repatriation by aid of a partner women?s shelter in the victim's home country. The shelter is in line with Abu Dhabi's 2007-2008 Policy Agenda, which identifies the key goals and government initiatives for achieving a secure and stable society, including eliminating "completely any and all kinds of exploitative or coercive labour practices, with particular focus on the protection of women and minors, as well as the complete eradication of any form of trafficking in persons."

Country-wide shelters program: The UAE Red Crescent Authority will supervise efforts to set up shelters across the country for women and children, who are victims of human trafficking using the Abu Dhabi model as a prototype. The comprehensive homes will provide them a haven with healthcare, as well as psychological and social support. The National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking aims to learn from the case profiles in the shelter in order to further improve and enhance the UAE?s policies and legislation.

Support for former child jockeys: The UAE's most high-profile effort to address human trafficking occurred a few years ago in response to recruitment practices taking place in the traditional sport of camel racing. Unfortunately, this sport became associated with child exploitation, and once aware of this, the UAE government immediately stepped in to regulate the sport and requested technical expertise from UNICEF to help protect and rehabilitate child victims. During the period beginning in May 2005, the UAE and the UNICEF intensified their efforts to eradicate this problem. This resulted in a multinational progress review in September 2006, where all 1,077 child camel jockeys were successfully and safely returned to their home countries in Asia and Africa. Child protection experts and government representatives from the UAE, Bangladesh, Mauritania, Pakistan and Sudan, as well as UNICEF officials participated in the review process and evaluated both results and gaps to support and reintegrate children involved in camel racing.

A rehabilitation centre for young former camel jockeys was established in Abu Dhabi, the first of its kind in the world and provided shelter and rehabilitation programs. The repatriation and rehabilitation program included establishment of transit centers providing medical assistance and other services to affected children, a family tracing system, social care of children, educational campaigns and establishment of community care committees.

The repatriation and rehabilitation program was then estimated at 10 million dirhams (US$ 2.75 million), funded entirely by the UAE. It was managed by the UAE authorities in association with the Ansar Burney Welfare Trust International in Pakistan and UNICEF.

One year after the rehabilitation program began, several cooperation initiatives were acknowledged in a review meeting in September 2006, including:

1) Awareness campaigns with camel owners in the UAE

2) Establishment of transit centers providing medical assistance and other services to affected children in Sudan

3) Family tracing system verified by justice authorities in Mauritania

4) Social care of children and back-to-school campaigns in Pakistan

5) Establishment of community care committees in Bangladesh

6) Maintaining follow-up mechanisms empowering NGOs and local institutions to oversee the payment of outstanding salaries to child beneficiaries o While efforts are underway to strengthen comprehensive reintegration procedures, the UAE and UNICEF agreed in April 2007 to establish a second and expanded phase of their program, which will now continue until May 2009.

As a follow-up measure, the UAE has committed 29 million dirhams (US$ eight million), which will help in country-based interventions to tackle trafficking by focusing on the establishment of monitoring mechanisms that would prevent children formerly involved in camel racing from re-entering hazardous or exploitative labour.

Claims facilities in Pakistan, Sudan, Mauritania and Bangladesh have been established to provide further compensation to former jockeys in addition to the compensation previously given.

Pillar IV: Bilateral and International Cooperation Human trafficking in the UAE has its point of origin in the home countries of guest workers. Recognizing the need to coordinate anti-human trafficking efforts with labour-exporting countries, the UAE has signed agreements with several labour-exporting countries ? including India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, China, Thailand and Philippines ? during the last two years to regulate the flow of the labour workforce. In order to deny unscrupulous private recruitment agencies from cheating and trafficking workers, all labour contract transactions will be processed by labour ministries or offices in the supplying countries.

Further, cooperation with the Philippines and India, for example, has resulted in these two countries announcing their refusal to grant emigration clearance to women below 25 and 30 years of age respectively who wish to work in the region in order to protect younger women from possible abuse. A wage standard has been introduced by some of these countries including Philippines, Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka. Other bilateral and international agreements include: Collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to help recreate the UAE police administration into a "centre of excellence" for region-wide information distribution and law enforcement, which will greatly benefit human trafficking issues.

Promoting partnerships with non-government organizations and institutes to exchange knowledge and expertise in the field of human trafficking. The UAE aims to increase the number of such cooperation agreements as part of an effective anti-human trafficking strategy. At present, the National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking is engaged in promoting a strategy of forging links at the government to government level and ensuring that these links cascade down to the government department level, organizations and even individual networks and links. The NGOs and social support organizations are being actively encouraged to collaborate and partner with similar organizations around the world. The Dubai Foundation for Women and Children, for example, is closely coordinating with the IOM offices in different countries for the repatriation of victims.

The Abu Dhabi Shelter for Victims of Human Trafficking, although in its nascent stages, is planning regular visits and exchanges with a number of shelters and trafficking experts around the world in order to introduce international benchmarks in the operational management of the shelter. The police authorities and human rights divisions within those authorities are building solid partnerships with other law enforcement agencies from a variety of countries in order to acquire expertise and in-country capacity to help bring traffickers to justice.

UN.GIFT (United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Trafficking) As part of the UAE's commitment to tackle this crime globally and take a lead in this fight, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, committed 55 million dirhams (US$ 15 million) to support the UN.GIFT, which is coordinated by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. This included sponsoring the United Nations Conference on Trafficking in Persons in Vienna in February 2008, in which the UAE participated proactively, both to disseminate information about its experience and learn from the experts of other participating countries from around the world in terms of data gathering capabilities and investigative techniques.

The Crown Prince's donation was made out of the belief that the creation of a forum for other countries, multiple UN agencies, intergovernmental entities and the non-governmental sector, all working together under a single banner would lead to unprecedented cooperation by the international community.

The Vienna Forum on human trafficking was the first global forum of its kind to be held on such an international scale. Bringing together over 130 countries and 1,600 experts and NGOs working on this issue, the conference was hailed as a great success by the steering committee of the UN.GIFT, as well as many of the delegates who attended the forum. The UAE continues to hold a seat on the steering committee and will proactively support the committee to ensure that the momentum created by the Vienna forum is followed with further actions and their implementation.

Conclusion The UAE is acting on every front: Legislation, Enforcement, Victim Support, Bilateral agreements and International Cooperation. It will continue to demonstrate resolve, and acknowledge where it stills need to improve. Simultaneously, the UAE will continue to cooperate with all appropriate regional and international law enforcement officials to apprehend, prosecute and punish those violating the UAE?s human trafficking law and those attempting to use the country as a channel to violate anti-trafficking laws of other countries.

The UAE has achieved much in a short period of time, but realizes that much more needs to be done to combat the challenge. The country is committed to serving as an active member of the international community, as well as a model for change in the region and takes these responsibilities seriously. The UAE will continue to acknowledge its shortcomings and demonstrate resolve by vigorously improving its four-pillared action plan. At the same time, we will continue to welcome direct discussion and collaboration with other governments, public or private sector groups, or international organizations that will help stem the tide of human trafficking.
/WAM/

Dubai Police foils attempt to smuggle 24 KG of heroin

2008-05-13T05:50:00.000+03:00

Dubai Police said today it had foiled an attempt to traffic 24 kilograms of heroin, valued at 6 million dollars and arrested three Asians and four Africans.

Colonel Khalil Ibrahim Al Mansouri, Deputy Director of Criminal Investigation Department at Dubai Police said in a press conference today that the two groups tried to smuggle the pure heroin hidden in boxes containing oranges.

He revealed that the Police received information a month ago about two gangs involved in smuggling heroin into the country. Following thorough investigations, it was confirmed that the gang members were using containers coming from Pakistan to traffic heroin. They were arrested while unloading heroin at Al Aweer Vegetable Market.
/WAM/

2008-05-10T07:50:00.001+03:00

The Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance has sentenced eight Chinese women, all visitors, to six months in jail each, for indulging in flesh trade.

All the defendants will be deported after serving their sentences, the court ordered.

The Chinese women were charged with running a prostitution ring from an apartment in Raffa area. They were apprehended by the police on December 1 last year following a raid on the apartment. They were indulging in flesh trade under the cover of offering massage services.

In the raid, the police recovered condoms and pornographic CDs among other items from the apartment.

Resident fined AED 1.5 mn for harbouring infiltrators

2008-04-28T20:45:00.001+03:00

The Bani Yas Court of First Instance has fined a Yemeni resident AED 1.5 million and sentenced him to two months in prison for harbouring 15 infiltrators whom he helped to enter the country and stay illegally.

The court also sentenced the first suspect and the 15 infiltrators to two months each in prison, and deportation after serving their jail terms.

The fine was tipped as the highest of its kind in the history of the primary courts in regard to cases dealing with federal law foe entry and residency of foreigners since the end of the grace period granted by the government to illegal stayers to correct their status on 3 November 2007.
The suspect was arrested during a crackdown conducted by the Violators' Follow up Unit on Bani Yas.

Court records indicated that the Yemeni suspect, who himself sneaked into the country, has facilitated the entry of 15 Yemenis through Oman and aided them to stay and work illegally.

He charged each of them AED 200 for accommodation in a room at Bani Yas. WAM

Mall workers return Dh2.1m found in food court to owner

2008-04-27T21:18:00.001+03:00

They were people in need of money, but when they found Dh2,100,000 in the food court of the shopping centre they worked for, they never thought twice before handing it over to the police.

Twenty-one-year-old Reddolla Das and 24-year-old Hamid Raza Abbasi have been working with Ajman City Centre for 11 and four months respectively, but they never had a day quite like April 16.

Reddolla came across a bag while cleaning tables at the mall’s food court. Without a second thought, he handed it over to Hamid, the security guard on duty, who then opened the bag and discovered the money: Dh400,000 in cash and Dh1,700,000 worth of blank cheques.

Hamid, as advised by the mall management, passed the bag on to the police who returned it to its relieved owner, a Pakistani national.

"We are all incredibly proud and grateful for Reddolla and Hamid’s honesty and humility," said Jassim Al Khaja, General Manager, Ajman City Centre. "We at Ajman City Centre endeavour to return every lost item found on our premises. The amount discovered is huge and some people might have been tempted by this."

Redolla and Hamid’s sincere act was recognised by the Ajman City Centre management, which rewarded them each with Dh1,500 in CityCash vouchers. Source

New system to track illegals at airport

2008-04-24T10:52:00.001+03:00

The Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD) has installed a new system at the Dubai International Airport (DIA) to record and store data of people who have been deported for various reasons.

The system will help the immigration authorities to prevent the re-entry of such people.

The move is part of the best global technological practices and standards in the field of passport control to manage the entry procedures effectively.

This system enhances the safety and the security of the UAE as it facilitates the process of identifying people whose entry into the UAE has been banned.

Shaikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Department and Chairman of Emirates, has hailed the efforts of the DNRD employees in protecting the country from illegals and contributing to the safety and security of the UAE.

Shaikh Ahmed attended a ceremony organised by DNRD at Al Bustan Rotana Hotel yesterday to honour the 125 DNRD passport control officers at the Dubai International Airport who seized 619 counterfeit passports and uncovered impostors during the second half of 2007.

The ceremony was attended by DNRD Director Major-General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri, DNRD Deputy Director Brigadier-General Obeid Mehayer bin Suroor, DNRD Director of Airports and Land Border Points Colonel Salah bin Suloom and other senior officials. Source

73 child camel jockeys to get compensation

2008-04-23T11:40:00.001+03:00

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Interior Ministry has approved claims by 73 repatriated child camel jockeys for a compensation of $1,000 each, Child Protection and Welfare Bureau (CPWB) official Nabeel Malik told Daily Times on Tuesday.

The repatriated camel jockeys are provided the compensation for rehabilitation under the Child formerly Involved in Camel Racing (CIRC), a project of the CPWB. Malik said that 79 claims were referred to the board by the CPWB, of which 73 were approved. “The CIRC board consists of Mehmood Ahmad from the UAE Interior Ministry, CPWB Chairman Faiza Asghar and Federal Investigation Agency Deputy Director Azhar Mehmood,” he said.

He said that people around the country were asked through announcements in the media to register the repatriated camel jockeys with the CPWB so that they could be compensated and their rehabilitation could be made possible. He said that in the first meeting the board passed the cases of 48 children and it was the second meeting of the board. He said that the six remaining cases were rejected on the basis of lack of documentation. “The jockeys are required to produce evidence that they had been involved in camel racing either through a passport, visa documents or ticket. But if they fail to do so, their compensation claim is not entertained,” he said.

Nabeel said that in May 2005, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UAE government had signed an agreement to help return and re-unite the underage camel racers in their home countries. “Because the majority of the camel jockeys is from the Punjab, the Pakistani government has assigned the responsibility to the CPWB to handle the issue,” he said.

He said that the board meeting, which was held on December 16, 2007, had decided to extend the programme to 2009; earlier the programme was to last till 2007. “The UAE government deposits the $1,000 rehabilitation fund in the Trust Account, in the Punjab Bank with an interest of Rs 600 a month. The money is given to the parents of the children on the condition that the children will be sent to school regularly,” he said. Source

Court interpreters in UAE sharpen their skills

2008-04-20T17:48:00.001+03:00

In an effort to speed up disposal of cases and sharpen the skills of court translators, the Ministry of Justice conducted on Saturday, an intensive training programme for all interpreters working at various courts across the country.

This is the first time in a few years the interpreters in federal courts get an in-service training in one of the most important areas of judicial process.

'In a country where more than 175 different nationalities live together, there may arise various types of disputes, both civil and criminal. The courts are not able to hand out judgments in these cases without listening to the parties involved, and this makes the role of court translators crucial', said the chief trainer Dr. Kamil Bashir.

He asked the interpreters to be extremely careful and honest when relating to the judge, the statements of the parties in a dispute, as they are not able to express their reasoning convincingly in Arabic.

'To avoid errors in interpretation, you have to earn the skill of understanding their distinctive national and traditional ways of communication. This may sometimes necessitate to understand their body language and read their non-verbal messages', said Dr. Bashir, who holds a doctorate in English language from Britain's prestigious Exeter University.

He reminded them of the vast ethical accountability in their sensitive profession, as a mistake in translation can tamper with the evidence, and thus make the justice be lost.

'You have to find yourself in the shoes of a judge when participating in the process of courtroom trials', said Dr. Bashir Senior legal Trainer at the Institute of Training and Judicial Studies, Counsellor Ahmed Suleiman portrayed the magnitude of the accountability of a court translator saying that he is part of a mechanism administering justice.

'You are walking on a narrow road, on each side of which, rest heaven and hell', he reminded.

The training programme was organized by the Judicial Inspection Directorate at the Ministry of Justice in association with the Institute of Training and Judicial Studies based at the University City in Sharjah.

In a circular sent to various federal courts in the UAE, Director of the Judicial Inspection Department Humaid Musabbah Al Muhairi made it clear that the court interpreters should be given adequate training in legal phraseology to avoid mistakes in interpretation.

In view of the vast economic renaissance being witnessed by the country, and the increasing need for court interpreters, the Institute of Training and Judicial Studies has planned periodic training for the interpreters as part of the strategy for the human development. WAM

Stiff penalties to combat crime

2008-04-10T21:48:00.001+03:00

Ten human trafficking cases have been reported in the UAE, five of them are cases in which verdicts have been issued, while others are still with the judicial authorities, a senior official said.

Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, Dubai Police's Deputy Commandant General, said eight of the cases were in Dubai. He said there are no Emiratis or Arabs involved in those cases. He pointed out that the number of cases is not a phenomenon at all compared to other countries where such crimes are common.

Major General Al Mazeina was speaking during a seminar organised at Dubai Police's Officers Club on the law of human trafficking.

Major General Al Mazeina pointed out that the intense efforts which the authorities in the UAE are putting into combating this kind of crime, have resulted in a decline in human trafficking cases in the country.

Legislation

He said the country has lately issued a number of legislations and laws, which contribute noticeably to reducing a number of crimes such as, money laundering and human trafficking. He said there is currently a draft law being prepared regarding weapons, explosives and firecrackers.

He stressed that the country is serious about firmly facing such crimes through laws and legislations and combating procedures.

He pointed out that laws such as money laundering legislation, has contributed in reducing the international classification of the country as a non-cooperative country.

Major General Al Mazeina denied that the policy of openness followed by the country is one of the reasons behind human trafficking crimes in light of countries exporting this crime. He said the legislation in the country has created a kind of specialisation in such crimes, which in turn have resulted in stiff punishments.

Major General Al Mazeina called on activating the efforts of executive and social parties to combat this crime and stiffen the procedures of combating the crime.

He also called on not mixing between human trafficking cases and labour cases, which result out of demands to revise salaries. He said labour cases should be dealt with according to labour laws.

Mohammad Saqr Al Za'abi, Chairman of Jurists Association, who gave the lecture, said the UAE is free of organised human trafficking crimes. He said a few cases are committed by individuals.

Violations

Al Za'abi said the UAE is the first Arab country to issue a law on combating human trafficking.

He said Islam had tackled this issue with a divine legislation when humanity was swamped by human rights violations.

Al Za'abi also gave some comments on the law, since he said that it comes without specification, which creates confusion when categorising or investigating the crime. He said there is a general lack of legislation that serves such crimes due to their international nature.

He called for the presence of a clear system for people coming into the country, which explains values, religion and traditions of the country to reduce such a phenomenon.

Al Za'abi also highlighted a number of issues related to federal law number 51 for the year 2006 regarding combating human trafficking. Source

Dubai Police arrest couple for stealing diamond ring worth Dh500,000

2008-04-10T21:43:00.001+03:00

Police arrested a couple for stealing a diamond ring worth half-a-million dirhams from a shop in Madinat Jumeirah.

According to Dubai Police, the couple arrived at the jewellery shop and started looking around. After a while, they decided on a diamond ring costing Dh500,000.
They returned the jewellery box back to the salesman and the male customer said he would get the money from his sister. Sometime after the man went out to get the money, the woman too disappeared. When the couple failed to return after sometime, the salesman decided to keep the jewellery box back in the shelf.

But the salesman was shocked to find the box empty and the diamond ring missing.

The shopkeeper immediately alerted the police. The two were arrested 24 hours after the theft. The suspects have been referred to the Public Prosecution. Source

UAE to use satellites to crack down on crimes

2008-04-09T14:30:00.001+03:00

A combination of unmanned aircraft and satellites could be used in the UAE soon for civilian purposes to track down criminals and criminal activities, a senior official of Ministry of Defence said yesterday.

While announcing the hosting of the region’s first Defence Geospatial Intelligence Conference in Dubai from April 27 to 29, Colonel Adel Ahmed Sultan of Defence Ministry, said satellite technologies will be soon used to crack down on crimes in the country.

Commenting on the geographical information available on the Internet, Col. Adel said that it does not pose any security threat as the information is not complete. “I believe that nobody can raise any security threat with the information available on the Internet as it is not 100 per cent accurate information,” he said.

Defence Geospatial Intelligence Conference will be held under the patronage of Ministry of Defence and organised by International Quality and Productivity Center (IQPC).

Hugh James, Divisional Director of Defence IQ, IQPC Middle East, said, “The three-day Geospatial Intelligence Middle East forum will give military personnel an opportunity to meet key decision-makers and exchange knowledge of best practices and expertise.”

The summit will straddle the military-civilian divide to drive forward regional geospatial development. With exclusive case studies from some of the global leaders in intelligence exploitation, this event will tackle the inter-operability and integration head-on.

“The conference will deliver critical information to senior decision-makers in the defence, aerospace and technology sectors, tackling issues relating to the latest defence plans, requirements, programmes and technologies and how they affect the industry,” said James.

“Within the GCC countries, the use of geographic information is increasingly valuable in the defence sector as well as in civilian sphere in terms of regional development and ensuring national security. As the threat to national security increases, asymmetrical partnership between military, security and civilian organisations has become critical,” said James. Source

UAE and UK discuss criminal security cooperation

2008-04-08T13:33:00.000+03:00

The UAE Interior Ministry and UK Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) explored on Tuesday mechanisms for boosting the already existing bilateral cooperation on criminal security.
The talks were held between Brigadier Abdullah Al Bedaiwi, Deputy Director of the Ministry's Criminal Security Department and the visiting SOCA delegation. WAM

Divorced man ordered to pay child allowance

2008-04-08T07:01:00.001+03:00

The Federal Supreme Court has ordered a divorced man to pay Dh1,500 to his ex-wife as child support allowance every month.

The woman had earlier filed for self-divorce in the Al Ain Shariah Court of First Instance demanding the estranged husband to provide a monthly child allowance of Dh4,500.

In her lawsuit, the woman said she had been bringing up the children on her own at first because it was she who had demanded divorce.

However, she was no longer able to meet the expenses of the children and that she had not officially assigned her uncle to finalise the self-divorce agreement with her former husband.

The Shariah Court as well as the Abu Dhabi Court of Appeal rejected the demand. She then approached the Supreme Court, which accepted her plea and referred the case back to the Court of Appeal.

Once again, the Court of Appeal ruled the divorce null and void as it took place through a non-designated representative of the wife. It also asked the woman to get back to her husband. The woman filed an appeal at the Supreme Court for the second time.

Her lawyer argued that the verdict declaring her divorce null and void is illegal as the Shariah laws stipulate that the couple in such cases must remain divorced even if the self-divorce procedures are not conducted in the legal manner.
The Supreme Court agreed with the argument and said that the self-divorce is final and the husband must pay a monthly child allowance of Dh1,500. Source

25 jail wardens plead not guilty to assault of prisoners

2008-04-06T15:36:00.000+03:00

Twenty-five jail wardens, including a former prison director and three lieutenants, on Sunday pleaded not guilty to abusing their authority and assaulting prisoners.

The Public Prosecution charged them with assault, which led to the permanent disability of an Armenian prisoner, abusing authority to beat prisoners and instigating jail wardens to beat prisoners. Source

Man gets one-year jail for stealing car

2008-04-01T19:08:00.000+03:00

The Court of Misdemeanour recently sentenced a 23-year-old Sudanese, W.Y., to one year in jail followed by deportation for stealing a car.

As per the court records, W.Y. stole a Honda car belonging to M.M. which was parked near the residence of the latter in Al Satwa area on February 2 this year.

During the trial, W.Y. denied stealing the car saying that an Indian national had brought the vehicle to him for repairing.

Police officer M.S. testified that W.Y. had admitted during interrogation that he took advantage of the fact that the car engine was running and stole it.

'He drove it in Dubai and Ajman. Later it got stuck in a hole in Maliha area in Sharjah after the gear lever broke,' the officer said.

Case of human trafficking and prostitution

2008-04-01T19:05:00.001+03:00

The Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance will pronounce its verdict on April 15 in a case of human trafficking and prostitution in which a Bangladeshi national, M.A., is the defendant.

As per the court records, on July 25 last year, M.A., 39, allegedly forced his woman compatriot, S.N., into prostitution by taking advantage of her vulnerable financial situation.

S.N., 17, had told the Public Prosecution that she arrived in the Dubai International Airport on June 10, 2007. “I was picked up from the airport by a friend of M.A who took me along with three other women to a house in Deira. Once in the house, I was informed by some Bangladeshi women that I would be working as a prostitute. M.A. threatened me that I would not be allowed to send any money back home unless I agreed to sleep with other men,” she said.

She was supposed to work for three months as a prostitute so that she could repay the money M.A. had spent on her visit visa, ticket and stay.

An Indian driver, identified as C.F., 36, used to pick and drop her from one apartment to another where she had sex with men.
“Once we were stuck in a traffic jam in a street in Deira. I managed to jump out of the car. I sought the help of a man who was in a grocery nearby who called the police,” S.N. said. Source

Final verdict on French boy’s sodomy case

2008-04-01T19:01:00.001+03:00

The Dubai Court of Cassation is expected to give its verdict on April 7 in the French boy’s sodomy case that attracted media attention not only in the UAE but also in the West.

The court hearing took place on April 1 in the presence of all the five judges, who will issue the final verdict.

The Court of Cassation has been studying the verdicts of the lower courts which handed out 15-year jail terms to each of the two men found guilty of kidnapping and sexually assaulting the French boy.

The Dubai Court of Appeals had upheld the 15-year jail sentence awarded to the two by the Court of First Instance.

The three defendants in the case are A.K., 35, who is suffering from AIDS, I.M.,18, and I.S., 17, who was referred to the Juveniles Court.

The case dates back to July 14 of last year when the French boy, identified as A.R., and his friend F.K. were offered a ride by a local teenager. The latter called two other friends and drove to a desolate stretch in the desert and took turns in sodomising him. F.K., however, was kept away from the vehicle.

The appellate court had also upheld the referral of the victim’s Dh15-million compensation claim to the Civil Court.
According to the judicial procedure, the Court of Cassation can either uphold the verdicts of the lower courts or revert the case to the appellate court for a fresh trial. Source

Robbery of an electronics kiosk at the Mercato Mall in Jumeirah.

2008-03-27T12:56:00.002+03:00

Three men from Georgia and a Russian woman were charged yesterday before the Dubai Criminal Courts with robbing an electronics kiosk at the Mercato Mall in Jumeirah.

While defendants, Besic T., 34, Bakriba M., 34, and Ana S., 23, pleaded not guilty to the charge, Gorky, 39 admitted his participation in the crime.

The four were arrested on March 2 after police tracked them down in Sharjah.

According to Lt Abdel Karim H., the alleged perpetrators were identified through footage captured by the mall’s security cameras on February 28.

Police said they separately raided the apartments of Ana and Bakriba where the stolen items were recovered. Gorky confessed to serving as the gang’s lookout.

More witnesses are scheduled to be presented before the court when trial resumes on April 9.

The Islamic Shariah as universal legal system

2008-03-26T20:55:00.004+03:00

The International Conference of the Presidents of the Supreme Courts that concluded in Abu Dhabi on Monday was hailed by the international participants, saying it was a huge success.

The concluding day focused on the justice delivery and challenges of the 21st century and Islamic Shariah as a legal system coexisting with other legal systems around the world.

Different judges and legal experts who attended the conference said they had benefited from the conference.

The conference also discussed the Shariah as a universal legal system juxtaposed with other legal systems of the world.

Dr Abdel Wahab Abdool, President of the Federal Supreme Court of the UAE, said, “Different religions, faiths, beliefs, creeds, schools and opinions among people lead to the different laws controlling the social behaviour of individuals within or outside their society and country.

“It is noteworthy that the establishment of domestic and international security, stability and peace is one of the objectives of any legislation which can’t be realised unless the relation among different legal systems is seen as a relation of juxtaposition, regardless of their differences in general bases, characteristics, sources or means of enforcement.”

Dr Abdool clarified some concepts of the Shariah and pointed out the scope of combining it with other great legal systems in the world.

“With its overall bases and general legal principles derived from Islam, the Shariah finds detailed legal solutions for all problems of everyday life just as any other legal system. It is therefore a truly independent legal system,” Dr Abdool concluded.

Muhammad Samid Al Raqqad, President of the Court of Cassation and President of the Judicial Council of Jordan, said it was important to develop common standards for universal rights.

Jalal Al Din Muhamad Uthman, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Sudan, described the Shariah as a universal legal system.

Abdul Aziz Al Yaqobi, Judge, Judiciary Department, Emirate of Abu Dhabi, presented a comprehensive research paper on the ‘Protection of the Sanctity of Privacy in Shariah and Comparative Law. Al Yaqobi explained the concept of sanctity of privacy and the special laws to guarantee its protection in the Shariah and other legal systems. Source

Fine for illegally downloading satellite channels content

2008-03-26T20:49:00.001+03:00

An Emirati national, identified as A.A., 23, has been ordered by the Court of Misdemeanour to pay a fine of Dh10,000 for unauthorised downloading of content of satellite channels on to his web site.
The court has also ordered confiscation of his laptop, destruction of his DVDs and blocking of his website for one month.

According to court records, on July 23, 2006, A.A. managed to hack into the encoded system of satellite channels, including ART, Showtime and Orbit. He unlawfully downloaded many Arab and western movies and cartoons from these channels.

Witness H.S., who represents the Anti-Piracy Arab Association, testified that the accused was downloading and offering pirated movies on his website. "His act was damaging the business of the exclusive dealer and in violation of the Intellectual Property Law and the author's rights," he pointed out.

The defendant had admitted that he launched the website www.DVD-4UAE.com in the end of 2005. He said that he managed to break into the encoded broadcasting sites of the satellite channels of ART, Showtime and Orbit and downloaded movies, cartoons and musical files.

However, on July 29, 2006, the police raided the residence of the accused in Al Ain and seized a laptop and around 100 DVDs of pirated Arab, Western and animated movies, in addition to musical material. Source

Where there is a will... loved ones are secure

2008-03-21T20:03:00.001+03:00

Nothing in this world is certain but death and taxes, according to Benjamin Franklin.

While taxes aren’t a concern in Dubai, death certainly is, but despite this many Dubai residents are unaware that their estate could be dealt with against their wishes or their assets frozen leaving a legal fix for their loved ones to deal with.

Will writer or “estate planner” Mohammed Marria said people need to overcome the mind block that preparing a will was morbid, and they ought to think ahead.
Marria, who has been an estate planner in Dubai for the past three years, said he had seen many families undergo unnecessary suffering because their loved one had not prepared a will. If a will has not been made, or nobody is aware of the presence of a will, the division of the estate usually takes place according to the shariah.

“People don’t realise that if they die here, the estate goes according to the shariah law,” he said. “The laws of the country may not coincide with their wishes.”

Typically, under the shariah one-eighth of the estate goes to the wife, one-sixth to the parents of the deceased, and the remainder divided among the children, with the sons receiving double that of the daughters.

However, the law of the deceased’s home country could sometimes be applied but that tended to be a more lengthy procedure.

“Meanwhile, bank accounts are frozen and often the wife, or the loved one, has no income,” he said. “In one instance bank accounts were frozen for six years. It’s rare but it can take six months to two years.”

He said that while many realised the importance of having a will they put it off or didn’t know who to approach. Notwithstanding this, Marria said there was a huge demand for will writers in Dubai.

“I usually have 20 wills a week, but I could be doing more because there’s such a demand,” he said.

As someone who specialises in will writing, he is trusted with people’s last wishes and has well and truly come to terms with the inevitability of death.

“I’m so used to it,” he said. “I talk about death from the moment I wake up to when I go to bed. Some requests include for their ashes to be scattered over a football ground. One person willed that all the organs be removed, except for the eyes. Another wanted to leave everything to his wife who he had separated from.” Marria urged people to overcome the mind block of preparing a will.
“It gives peace of mind. Death is guaranteed and if you own estate here you should get it done. It prevents a possible headache.” Source

208 Shariah petitions filed in 2007

2008-03-21T19:54:00.003+03:00

Altogether 39 Shariah petitions have been filed in the Shariah Court so far this year, while 208 were filed in 2007 and 158 in the previous year, said a judge who handles Shariah-related cases.

Judge Khaled Yahya Al Housny, the only judge who presides over the proceedings in Shariah-related cases, attributed the rise in marital disputes to the changing lifetsyles and increasing financial problems in daily life, including the high cost of living and spiralling rents, in addition to some social factors, primarily, extra-marital relationships.

According to Al Housny, the petitions, which may be filed by either of the spouses, are usually related to provisional custody, alimony, financial dues and delivery of personal belongings.

Divorce cases

“The petitioners in divorce cases usually seek urgent and provisional procedures awaiting verdict. On approval of the petition, the judge of the Shariah summary proceedings issues an express order to be executed within 48 hours,” the judge said.

Judge Al Housny further explained: “The petition can be filed and executed upon the judge’s order in the absence of the second party, that is, the spouse. Petitions like these necessitate a provisional measure to solve a situation or a circumstance, which may otherwise lead to a potential risk.”

The urgent order may be pertaining to a provisional custody of minors “when a toddler is left alone in a house without any proper care, when a husband leaves his family without power in the scorching temperatures during summer. Those factors are humanitarian and exceptional. Hence the spouse resorts to us for intervention,” Judge Al Housny pointed out.
Life risk factor

“The life risk factor should be mentioned in the petition, otherwise it would be beyond my competence to decide on giving the custody of the child to the petitioner. The custody is considered, in general, a right to which both parties are basically entitled,” he said.

Urgent order

The urgent order may also be related to a provisional seizure or delivery of personal belongings. “If the wife has any fear or doubts that her husband might leave the country before the divorce case is settled then she resorts to the Shariah summary proceedings,” he added.

“Pending the verdict in any Shariah case, I can issue an urgent and provisional order to restrain the husband from travelling, impose a provisional seizure of any of his belongings so that he pays the dues to his wife. The dues may include the alimony and the deferred dowry,” he said.

Judge Al Housny pointed out that the marital cases were usually subject to the Personal Status Law. “If there is no explicit text or article that could be made useful in the settlement of the dispute subject of the case then the judge might resort to the Civil Procedural Law.”

Papers, documents

According to him, the order the Shariah summary proceedings judge issues is based on the papers and documents he receives. Police intervention can be sought when the other spouse refuses to abide by the urgent order.

The police officers make sure the child is delivered to the petitioner or the due alimony or deferred dowry deposited in the court treasury. The other spouse has the right to challenge the petition before the same judge.

Judge Al Housny concluded by saying: “The judge of the Shariah summary proceedings usually abides by two principles: first the urgency factor, and second, not affecting the other party’s right.”
The judge of the Shariah Summary Proceedings is available at the Shariah Court from 7.30am to 2.30pm and from 5pm to 8.30pm. Source

Four plead not guilty in bid to kidnap 18-year-old

2008-03-20T11:29:00.002+03:00

Three Emiratis, security officer A.A., policeman K.F., and S.H., and a Pakistani A.H., yesterday pleaded not guilty in the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance to the charges of kidnapping an 18-year-old Yemeni student and attempting to sodomise him.

According to court records, on December 2, 2007, the four accused, in their twenties, allegedly kidnapped J.M., took him to a deserted area and tried to have sex with him. When the boy resisted, they assaulted him.

In his statement to the Public Prosecution, J.M. said that while he was playing cards with some of his friends in Bur Dubai on December 2 of last year, A.A. came and asked him to accompany him to a restaurant.

"He promised to drop me back. He drove to a restaurant and ordered food. His friends, K.F., S.H. and A.H. later joined us and A.A. left me alone with them.

“The three took me to a dark and isolated location. They then told me that they wanted to sodomise me. One of them put a belt around my neck and threatened me. I somehow managed to get out of the car," J.M. said.

The complainant added that K.F. called him later and tried to pacify him by saying that they were simply joking.

He, however, threatened J.M. of dire consequences if he reported the matter to the police.

The next hearing is scheduled for April 6. Source

Three jailed in rape and robbery case

2008-03-20T11:23:00.002+03:00

Two Emiratis, identified as F.S. and H.S., have been found guilty of abduction, rape and robbery.
The Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance yesterday sentenced them to five years in jail.
A third accused in the case, M.A., also UAE national, has been awarded one year sentence, while the fourth accused, an Emirati teenager, had already been referred to the Juvenile Court.
All the convicts, unemployed and in their early twenties, were charged with kidnapping and raping a 25-year-old Ethiopian housemaid, identified as T.D. on September 19, 2006.
They were also accused of robbing her.
They had pleaded not guilty all along.

T.D. and witnesses had earlier testified in the court that on September 19, 2006, she accompanied a family that was going to see a villa in the Barsha area around 9.30pm.

The family wanted to take the villa on rent. While they were inspecting the accommodation, they heard a knock on the door.

Four people were at the doorstep. One of them produced an ID and claimed to be a police officer. They dragged T.D. to their car while warning the others to not interfere.

The group took T.D. to a sandy location in the same locality and took turns to rape her. They also snatched her bag containing Dh1,200. Source

347 injured in the most horrific accident referred to prosecution

2008-03-15T04:58:00.003+03:00

Colonel Hamad Adeel Al Shamsi, Head of the Traffic and Patrols Department of Abu Dhabi Police, has said the department has completed investigations into Tuesday’s Ghantoot pileup on the Abu Dhabi-Dubai road. All 347 injured in the accident had been referred to Al Rahba Prosecution.

The prosecution conducted investigations and discharged some of the injured. However, investigations are going on to determine the individuals who caused the accident, so as to refer them to the court to face punishments.

A number of the injured in the accident demanded their claims towards insurance companies to be acknowledged, while the others decided to relinquish them, Al Shamsi added. Source

Five stand trial in kidnapping and murder of Pak taxi driver

2008-03-15T04:53:00.001+03:00

The Criminal Court of First Instance yesterday adjourned the hearing in a case of kidnap, murder and theft to April 3 on the request of the defence lawyer.
Judge Fahmi Mounir adjourned the hearing as the defence lawyer said that his client, I.B., a 20-year-old Emirati, had gone out of the country on May 2, 2006 and was out of Dubai when the murder occurred.
Pending the next hearing, the Public Prosecution would check with the authorities at the Khaled Port in Sharjah to see if any travel document of I.B. could be furnished.

Four other defendants are involved in the case - A.M., 33, bidoun; A.A., 21, Iranian; A.R, 32, bidoun; and T.A., 20, Pakistani student, all unemployed. All of them had pleaded not guilty to the charges of kidnap, murder and theft when the trial began on December 27, 2007.

According to the court records, on May 5, 2006, the five defendants allegedly kidnapped Pakistani taxi driver A.K., killed him and stole Dh1,100 and a mobile phone from him.

According to the Public Prosecution, the five defendants had admitted that they got in the alleged victim’s car from Maydan Bani Yas area and told him to drop them in Al Quoz Industrial Area. As the car reached an isolated area on the way, they asked him for money, which he refused.

“This angered the defendants who stabbed him on different parts of his body. They finally killed him while he was still on the driver’s seat. Then they dragged the body out of the car and dumped it a few metres away. The body was found by the police nearly six hours later.

The defendants also admitted they had carried a knife, sword, a cleaver and a metallic baton to commit the crime. Source

Zirconium broker faces trial before Dubai Court

2008-03-12T21:13:00.001+03:00

Dubai prosecution has referred an Arab national to the Criminal Court to stand trial for allegedly brokering import of Zirconium into the country.

Zirconium, a lustrous, gray-white, strong transition metal is used in nuclear reactors, and has multiple uses. The import of mineral zircon is regulated by UAE's Federal Law No.12 (2007) which stipulates stringent control on the import of commodities of multiple uses.

Dubai's Attorney General Esam Al Humaidan said that the Prosecution has maintained utmost care at every step of investigation since issuing an order to arrest the accused and confiscate the consignment.

The accused and all the witnesses were interrogated with great care in an effort to reach the truth about the attempt, said a statement from Dubai Prosecution.

Al Humaidan added that the accused was found brokering with local traders for the import of 240kg of zirconium, which was meant to be re-exported to other destinations.

Zirconium, an alloying agent due to its high resistance to corrosion is also used in developing rocket systems.

The Attorney General noted that the foiling of the attempt by state security authorities stands testimony to the efforts of UAE in keeping the country free from weapons of mass destruction.

The import of materials with multiple-uses is not banned by UAE, but regulated by stringent rules to eliminate the chances of misusing them.

This is one of the major cases to be seen by a court in UAE pertaining to the violation of state security and the Federal Law No. 12(2007). (WAM)

Prostitution racket busted, 200 held

2008-03-02T17:59:00.002+03:00

Dubai Police arrested 190 Asian women suspected to be involved in prostitution and 10 Bangladeshi nationals, allegedly working as pimps, in one of the biggest crackdowns on sex trade networks in the emirate on Saturday, Khaleej Times has learnt.

Around 8pm, the police received a tip-off that a number of women were involved in sex trade in some small hotels in Naif area. The police officials raided a number of hotels in the area and arrested 10 suspected pimps from Bangladesh and 190 women from Bangladesh, India and Indonesia.

Dubai Police has had several crackdowns on prostitution networks in the past. Around three months ago, they arrested 170 sex workers, which, according to the police, was one of the largest crackdowns in Dubai.

The 190 women arrested on Saturday are being interrogated. After the investigations, they will be referred to the Dubai Public Prosecution.

Earlier, Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, Commander-in-chief of the Dubai Police, had said that the police would continue its crackdown on prostitution rings. The move comes after the UAE passed a law to combat human trafficking. He urged women duped into working for such networks to contact the police.

The UAE enacted a law in November last year making human trafficking punishable by life imprisonment, and has set up a state body to combat trafficking. Source

Dubai Courts facing a shortage of translators

2008-03-02T06:32:00.003+03:00

The Typing and Translation Section at the Dubai Courts is having a hard time finding translators for some languages, a senior official at the section has said.
Waheed Al Jassimi, Head of the Translation wing of the section, told Khaleej Times yesterday that there was a shortage of translators for languages like German, Italian, Russian, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Swahili and some others.

“When a party to a case does not speak any language other than his/her native tongue, we have a tough time.

“If our section does not have translators for that language, we seek help from outside.

“The translators, who are called in, have to be accredited by the embassies/consulates or affiliated to foreign translation firms,” Al Jassimi explained.

Aysha Rashid Ahamli, Head of Typing and Translation Section, Dubai Courts, told Khaleej Times that the section had 16 translators, including a woman who joined recently.

“I believe that appointing female translators could help facilitate family cases. It is a new initiative.

“She will be working for the Shariah courts handling cases of marriage, divorce and inheritance. Three other male translators will soon join the section,” Alhamli said.

Alhamli said the section had translators in 12 languages — English, Russian, Persian, Urdu, Hindi, Sri Lankan, Mandarin, Pashto, Punjabi, Bengali, Tamil and Malayalam.

Alhamli added that sometimes the judge or the lawyer asked to replace the translator with another one because of some problem in communication.

“The translation needs to be very accurate during the hearings as it would affect the proceedings.

“Hence, we are really careful in the selection of translators. Arabic is a must for all translators and the translator should be able to speak the second language formally.

“Apart from translating inside the court halls, the translators have loads of writing work.

“They are in charge of translating documents, complaints and emails coming to the Dubai Courts in general.”

Alhamli noted that a translator should be on duty daily at the Traffic Court affiliated to the General Command of the Dubai Police.

“Our translation section also covers the Traffic Court, the Immigration Court and the Muraqqabat Court,” she said. Source

Woman fined Dh3,000

2008-02-29T12:12:00.002+03:00

The Dubai Court of Misdemeanour yesterday ordered a Dutch woman real estate agent C.K., 35, to pay a fine of Dh3,000 for intentionally damaging others’ belongings, including important documents.

On August 8, 2007, the defendant, C.K., had gone to the Emirates Hill villa of her former husband, S.S., 35, a Dutch manager of Dubai Internet City.

Following a fight with him, she started damaging the belongings of his new wife, J.M., 33, an Iraqi manager of an event management company.

S.S. later called the police while his divorcee was still in the house. Source

Couple pleads not guilty to molesting ‘adopted’ daughter

2008-02-29T12:04:00.002+03:00

A 53-year-old Emirati A.S.,and his wife M.K., 46, have in the Court of First Instance pleaded not guilty to the charge of molesting their adopted seven-year-old daughter.

However, in the same case, the couple, along with an Emirati housewife, M.B., 30, and an unemployed Iranian, M.A., 30, have pleaded guilty to forging a document relating to their ‘adopted’ daughter.

The Public Prosecution alleged that from February 7, 2001 to July 2, 2007, all the four accused were involved in forging several other official documents, including the minor girl’s birth certificate.

The Emirati couple A.S. and M.K. had alleged that the latter was their own daughter.

M.K. admitted that more than seven years ago she met Iranian M.A. through M.B.

She alleged that since M.A. was pregnant following an “illicit relationship,” she had struck a deal with M.A. to ‘adopt’ the child for Dh15,000 if it was a girl.

“I and my husband along with the biological mother forged the birth certificate of the child at the Dubai Hospital. We handed the hospital two photocopies of our passports. My husband signed on the birth certificate stating that the child was ours. Accordingly, we managed to secure a UAE passport issued for the infant girl mentioning us as her parents.”

During investigations carried out by the Public Prosecution, witness L.S., a housewife from Seychelles, said, “I was very close to the baby girl and was shocked when she told me in June 2007 that her father A.S. was molesting her.

The court has set March 13 for the next hearing. Source

New forensic laboratory

2008-02-29T12:00:00.001+03:00

Dubai Police Chief Lieutenant-General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim yesterday announced the establishment of a new forensic and criminal laboratory.

Lt-Gen. Dhahi told the media the new lab would be a milestone in the progress of the Department of Criminal Investigation and its objective of keeping pace with the latest in forensic and criminal science. Source

Dubai police Seize 495 Fake Passports During H2 of 2007

2008-02-27T21:14:00.000+03:00

The Dubai Naturalization and Residency Department (DNRD) passport control staff members situated at the Dubai International Airport have seized about 500 fake passports during the second half of last year.
Brigadier Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri, Director of DNRD, announced that 495 fake passports were captured due to the diligence and attention of the highly trained staff of the department from July till December 2007, and 2,611 wanted people were detained as a result of the iris-scaning technology.

Al Marri said: "We have adapted the highest technological standards in setting up the iris scans and detecting the most sophisticated fake passports techniques. Our staff members undergo extensive periodic training sessions to develop a quick analytical sense in accordance with the best global practices.

''If we consider the figures collected during the first half of the year (299 passports and 1,015 iris scan detainees), we note the excellent development in the capacities of our staff and our ability to integrate our efforts to preserve the security of the nation." "DNRD has created an integrated black-list system that makes the names and details of the wanted criminals and offenders common to all the staff at the Dubai airports, seaports and land borders", added Col. Salah Seif bin Sloom, head of Airport and Land port Sector at DNRD. (WAM)

Two Emiratis charged over the kidnapping and sexual assault of boy

2008-02-27T19:11:00.002+03:00

A new case of two Emirati men who kidnapped a 15-year-old Emirati schoolboy and had a forceful homosexual affair with him floated in a Dubai court on Wednesday morning.

During the hearing inside the Dubai Court of First Instance, the two suspects, a 22-year-old salesman and an 18-year-old student, denied having repeatedly had sex against the will of their compatriot schoolboy in different occasions and places in Dubai.

The Public Prosecution charged the defendants with luring the boy into their car, driving off to a sandy area where they had forceful sex with him.

They were also charged with threatening to beat and kill the victim and burn his house and scandalise him after having recorded what they did on a mobile phone camera.

Records said the suspects repeated their alleged crime with the schoolboy over different occasions and places in Dubai.

They denied their charges before Presiding Judge Fahmi Mounir.

It is the second case of its kind at Dubai Courts in recent months.

In December 2007, two adult Emiratis were sentenced to 15 years in jail each for committing a similar crime with a 16-year-old French boy.

This case differs with the fact that the alleged crime was repeated a number of times at different places. Source

Businessman, seven prostitutes jailed for running brothel

2008-02-27T19:08:00.001+03:00

A businessman has been jailed for two years for running a brothel housing seven sex workers.

The workers - of whom two became pregnant prior to their arrest and gave birth in prison - received various jail terms.

The Dubai Court of First Instance placed the 37-year-old Iranian businessman, A.R., under two-year police supervision.

The court also sentenced 23-year-old Kazakh woman, T.M., to nine months in jail for assisting the businessman in running the brothel and having an illicit affair with an Arab man.

Five Russian women and one Kazakh woman were each sentenced to six months in jail for working as prostitutes. The eight accused will be deported after serving their jail terms.

The Iranian businessman denied the charges before the court earlier.
The 24-year-old Kazakh female, A.K., had an illicit affair with a compatriot man. She fell pregnant and failed to report her crime to the police.

A policeman who questioned one of the Russian women, identified as V.S., testified: "She confessed that the businessman brought her into Dubai on a visit visa after he promised her work as a waitress. She claimed that A.K. asked her to work as a prostitute for three months until she covered the value of her visa and air ticket. She agreed and gave the money to T.M. who in her turn gave it to the businessman."

The policeman said they arrested T.M. who confirmed V.S.'s statement and A.K. who admitted that the Iranian ran the brothel. Police arrested the rest of the suspects later. Source

Federal law covers all areas of cyber crime

2008-02-27T16:37:00.001+03:00

President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has issued a federal law on combating cyber crime.

Law No 2 of 2006, issued last month, includes 29 articles and will take effect from the date of its issuance, and is to be published in the official gazette.

Article No 2 considers any intentional act resulting in destroying or revealing secrets or republishing personal or official information as a crime. Anyone found logging into an information website or system shall be punished with jail term or fine, or both.

The law also states that anyone found luring a male or female to commit adultery or prostitution through the internet will be jailed up to five years and fined.

And anyone discovered abusing shrines, religious rituals, insulting them or inciting others to do so shall receive five years in jail and be fined.

Anyone found opposing Islam will be jailed up to seven years.

At a glance

- Article No 3 states that anyone found breaking rules stipulated in Article No 2 of the law shall be sentenced to no less than one year in jail and fined not less than Dh20,000, or both.

- Article No 4 states that anyone found forging any document of federal or local government shall be temporarily imprisoned and fined, or both.

- Article No 5 of the law states that anyone convicted of hampering computer programmes or services shall be punished with a jail term or a fine, or both.

Hacking

- Article No 6 states that anyone hacking into programs or destroying them will be either jailed or fined, or both.

- Article No 7 states anyone found changing or destroying medical tests or healthcare will be temporarily jailed or fined.

- Article No 8 states that anyone found eavesdropping by using any electronic or high-tech means shall be jailed or fined.

- Article No 9 states that anyone convicted of using the internet or any other high-tech means for threatening or black-mailing will be sentenced to no more than two years in jail and fined no more than Dh50,000, or both.

- Article No 10 states that anyone found fleecing money by using the internet or any high-tech means will be sentenced to no less than one year and fined no less than Dh30,000, or both.

- Article No 11 states that anyone found using the data of credit card or any other electronic card of others will be jailed for no less than one year and fined no less than Dh30,000.

- Article No 12 states that anyone found saving information with the intent to exploit will be sentenced to no less than six months in jail and fined no less than Dh30,000.

- Article No 14 states that anyone found logging onto a website with the intent to change the designs of the site will be jailed and fined.

Some of the offences

- Abuse of any Islamic holy shrines or rituals.

- Abuse of holy shrines and religious rituals stipulated in other religions since such rituals are maintained in accordance to the rulings of Islamic Sharia.

- Article No 16 states that anyone found breaking family principles and values or publishing news or pictures related to the private life of the family members will be jailed for no less than one year and fined Dh50,000.

- Article No 17 stipulates that anyone found setting up a website or publishing information using internet or any other cyber means for the purpose of human trafficking will be temporarily imprisoned.

- Article No 18 states that anyone found using websites to sell narcotics will be temporarily jailed.

- Article No 19 states that anyone found transferring dirty money or concealing their sources will be sentenced to no more than seven years and a fine of no less than Dh30,000 and up to Dh200,000.

- Article No 20 states that anyone found publishing information in breach of general order and public decency will be sentenced to not more than five years in jail.
Source

45 labourers jailed over violent protest

2008-02-25T17:39:00.000+03:00

A Dubai court sentenced 45 Indian construction workers to six months in jail followed by deportation for involvement in violent protests to demand pay increases, a court official said on Sunday.
Late in 2007, labourers closed down roads, assaulted police and overturned vehicles in one of several protests calling for better pay and living conditions.

The court found the labourers guilty of charges including holding illegal gatherings, vandalism and violating public security, the official told reporters.

The sentences can be appealed within two weeks.

Dubai, where labour unions are banned, has long faced criticism from human rights groups who say it turns a blind eye to cases of the non-payment of wages, lack of medical care and sub-standard housing for workers.

Construction workers in the booming Gulf trade hub, which is building the world's tallest tower and manmade islands, have long complained about poor working conditions.

The government has revised the labour law to include requirements that employers pay for migrant workers' travel, employment permits, medical tests and healthcare.

It has also closed down some workers' camps that do not meet health and safety standards in a crackdown on firms abusing foreign workers.

But in March, the New York-based watchdog Human Rights Watch said a UAE draft labour law fell far short of international standards for the rights of workers.

Some of the problems begin in the workers' home countries, where many illiterate labourers are recruited with false promises of good pay and sign contracts they cannot read.

Foreigners, from labourers to high-income executives, comprise more than 85% of the UAE's population of about 4.5 million.

Many cities in the Gulf region are growing as governments plough oil revenue windfalls into ambitious development and infrastructure projects that rely on guest workers, mainly from the Indian subcontinent. (Reuters)

Dubai Police nabs credit card forgery gang

2008-02-25T05:40:00.000+03:00

The criminal investigation department at the Dubai Police has arrested a three-member Turkish gang who smuggled into the country a large number of forged credit cards.

The gang was using the cards for making purchases of expensive goods from various outlets of global brands at the shopping arcades in Dubai city.

The three culprits have been remanded in preparation for further investigation. (WAM)

Dubai Customs seizes 230,000 narcotic pills

2008-02-22T19:45:00.001+03:00

Dubai Customs recently succeeded in foiling an attempt to smuggle a large shipment of narcotic substances into the UAE via the Cargo Village at Dubai International Airport.

Customs inspectors got suspicious on February 10 on the arrival of a shipment of building material from an Arab country, which was packed in 17 large sacks weighing 935kg according to official documents. The shipment raised suspicions after passing through the security controls at the Cargo Village.

The narcotic Keptagon pills, which were well hidden inside the shipment, were discovered by the authority’s trained dogs. It is estimated that 230,000 Keptagon pills weighing approximately 40kg were confiscated by Dubai Customs. Appropriate action was immediately taken, and the person concerned and prohibited shipment were handed over to the proper authorities. This great accomplishment falls within Dubai Customs accumulated achievements in their role of ensuring the safety of the community, and protecting its citizens and residents from the dangers of harmful substances, particularly narcotics, counterfeit medicines, and other pirated goods.

Mahbub Ahmad Misbah, Executive Director, Land and Airports at Dubai Customs, emphasised that Dubai Customs and its inspectors will continue to play their part in the struggle against all forms of contraband, while keeping a watchful eye on the nation’s security and the safety of its citizens and residents, inline with the Dubai Customs strategic goals. For his part, Khalid Khammas, Executive Director, Customs Commitment, commented that: “At Dubai Customs we are continuously working to develop inspection procedures aimed at foiling attempts to smuggle dangerous substances into the country.” (WAM)

Three-month jail term for molesting woman

2008-02-21T17:00:00.001+03:00

The Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance yesterday sentenced M.A., an Egyptian driver, to a three-month jail term followed by deportation for molesting a woman in public.

On December 30, 2007, M.A, 29, followed an Iranian woman at a shopping mall and molested her while she was kneeling down.

The act was caught by the CCTV camera installed at the mall. The video footage was produced as evidence to prove the crime. Source

Supervisor referred to public prosecution

2008-02-21T16:56:00.001+03:00

The Dubai Police yesterday referred a Pakistani security supervisor to Public Prosecution for allegedly forcing his colleague to have sex with him.

Police sources said the 27-year-old Pakistani official, S.M., who supervised a security team of three Asians, allegedly misused his position and forced his colleague to have sex with him.

According to a complaint, S.M. learnt that a 25-year-old Nepali guard T.N., who joined his team in December, 2007, had a deformity in his arm.

Since a security guard has to prove hundred per cent fitness at the time of joining the job, S.M. advised the Nepali recruit to hide his deformity by wearing a long-sleeved jacket.

A few days later, both of them visited a sports club at night in Jebel Ali. After the club closed by midnight, S.M. persuaded T.N. to have sex with him in return for the earlier favour.

T.N. decided to report the matter to his company which informed the police.

During interrogation, S.M. denied pressuring T.N., saying the Nepali colleague had consented to have sex with him. Source

Two acquitted of charges of locking up female dancer

2008-02-21T16:52:00.002+03:00

The Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance yesterday acquitted an Indian manager of a hotel night club and an Indian dancer of charges of illegally locking up a Pakistani woman dancer, A.M., 19, in a flat which caught fire leading to the latter’s death.

The court, however, referred the two to the Court of Misdemeanour to face charges of unintentionally causing the Pakistani dancer’s death.

According to court records, on July 30, 2007, Indian manager D.D., 40, and the Indian dancer B.K., 22, were accused of illegally locking up A.M. in the flat where other dancers were also lodged. One of the girls, J.K., who has already been referred to the Court of Misdemeanour, lit a prayer lamp and forgot to put it out before leaving the room. The prayer lamp apparently was the cause of the fire which resulted in A.M.’s death.

Meanwhile, another Pakistani dancer T.N., 22, who was in the locked flat with A.M., told the court that while all her colleagues had all gone to the club for work at night, she had stayed with the victim in the flat and that it was locked by B.K. A little later, she saw smoke coming out of A.M.’s room followed by flames that shortly engulfed the flat.

T.N. was rescued by neighbours but A.M. was not so fortunate. Source

Man sentenced to 10 years for smuggling

2008-02-20T12:00:00.001+03:00

The Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance yesterday sentenced a 31-year-old Irish national, identified as L.O., to 10 years in prison after he was found guilty of smuggling cocaine into the country with the intent of exporting it to Australia.

The court also ordered the convict to pay a fine of Dh50,000. He will be deported after completion of his term.

On December 11, 2007, L.O. had arrived at the Dubai International Airport on a visit visa. Because of his suspicious movements at the airport, he was put under surveillance by the officers of the Customs and Dubai Police. He was later taken into custody and sent to Dubai Hospital where an X-ray revealed capsules concealed in his stomach. Seventy-eight plastic capsules containing cocaine weighing almost 890 grams were removed from his body.
The defendant yesterday pleaded guilty of smuggling cocaine with the intent of exporting it to Australia. Source

Woman jailed for prostitution

2008-02-20T11:58:00.001+03:00

The Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance yesterday sentenced a 23-year-old woman from Uzbekistan, M.H., to six months in jail followed by deportation for indulging in prostitution.

On January 2, Sergeant F.A. was called by a taxi driver, S.A., to Freej Murar area to solve a dispute with a woman passenger, M.H.

S.A. told the police that M.H. boarded the taxi from Deira to Bur Dubai. At the end of the trip, she told him she had only a Dh1,000 note. When the driver tried to get change at a food outlet, he was told the Dh1,000 note was counterfeit.
During interrogation, M.H. said she got the note from a customer with whom she had sex in a hotel. Source

Two nationals acquitted in personal data case

2008-02-19T14:10:00.003+03:00

The Dubai Criminal Court of Appeal has upheld the verdict of the lower court and acquitted UAE nationals S.S. and H.Z. of the charge of disclosing personal and confidential data pertaining to female owners of cars listed with the General Department of Traffic.

On December 9, 2007, the Criminal Court of First Instance had acquitted S.S., an employee of the Command and Control Room at the General Department of Operations, Dubai Police, of divulging personal data pertaining to female drivers to his friend H.Z.

The court had also acquitted H.Z. of the charge of instigating the disclosure.

In his statement before the court, Major M.S. of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), had stated that the CID was tipped off about a case of disclosure of personal data, including mobile phone numbers. Both S.S. and H.Z. had pleaded not guilty before the Court of First Instance.

Defence lawyer Yasser Naqabi said both courts acquitted the two accused due to lack of sufficient evidence. Source

Zero tolerance policy on drugs: British Embassy in UAE warned Britons

2008-02-19T12:43:00.000+03:00

The British Embassy has stressed the need to raise awareness of drugs amongst visitors to the emirate of Dubai.

"There's a zero tolerance policy, and you can go to prison for four years," the Dubai-based Gulf News quoted Simon Goldsmith, Second secretary for political and media affairs at the British Embassy as saying.

According to Goldsmith, the number of British citizen under detentions for drug-related crime is on the increase.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) website contains travel advice and information about local drug laws, and operated a 2006 'Know Before you Go' campaign to raise awareness. (WAM)

CID prompt action helps a duped man get his car back

2008-02-18T06:27:00.001+03:00

Prompt action on the part of Director of General Department of Criminal Investigation, Brig Khamis Mattar Al Mazina, has helped an Indian national get back his car from a fellow compatriot who had literally taken him for a ride.

According to the details of the case, M.P. had sold his Dubai-registered car, Toyota Corolla 2007 model, to his friend K.S.S. in April 2007, who handed over three cheques for the amounts agreed upon.

Initially, K.S.S. had agreed to buy the car along with the transfer of the car loan to his name and had issued three cheques — two bank cheques of Dh1,244 each, and another for the remaining loan balance of Dh63,444.

“After two months, K.S.S. made various excuses and asked me to wait a while before depositing the cheques,” said M.P.

Meanwhile, M.P. kept on following up with K.S.S. for his money and even requested his friend not to use the car, but the latter ignored the requests.

During the period K.S.S. also met with several road accidents, which affected and lowered the value of the car drastically. In October 2007, when the car registration renewal was due, M.P. asked K.S.S. not to apply for renewal until he had paid up the balance amount.

However, M.P. claimed that K.S.S. tricked him by using his passport and licence copies to renew the car registration without his knowledge or consent.

It was then that M.P. decided to present the cheques to the bank, but to his dismay the cheques bounced because K.S.S. had already closed his bank account in June 2004.

“K.S.S. had apparently pre-planned everything to cheat me by not giving the money or returning the car,” alleged M.P. and he decided to go to the Naif Police Station to lodge a complaint. The police asked M.P. to furnish a letter from the bank concerned for verification of signatures. But the local bank declined to issue any such letter due to lack of file records of an account that had been closed for over three years. As a result, M.P. was initially unable to register a case of fraud and cheating against K.S.S.

However, K.S.S. was subsequently asked to come to the police station for questioning and taken into custody in connection with the alleged fraud.

But K.S.S. was later released when he agreed to amicably settle the matter and return the car and M.P. agreed not to press charges. Source

Get set for a pow wow with canines

2008-02-16T16:14:00.001+03:00

Police dogs will show their skills at searching for drugs, weapons and explosives in a public display at the 20th Pedigree and Whiskas Pet Show to be held at Dubai’s Nad Al Sheba Club today (Saturday).

The Abu Dhabi and Dubai Police K9 sections which have worked in the UAE and rescue operations in Pakistan and Indonesia, will demonstrate the dogs’ expertise in tracking suspects or finding missing persons.

The show is expected to attract more than 35,000 people. It will feature many different breeds of dogs - from Pedigree purebreds to crossbreeds, mongrels to rare breeds, and Chihuahuas to Great Danes. The dogs will take part in parade and competitions.

Maya Theodory, pet care manager at Mars, the show’s sponsors, said, “The Pedigree and Whiskas Pet Show is a day for the family where all members can interact with pets and learn more about the role they play in our lives and community.

“We aim to raise the awareness on responsible pet ownership and educate people about the joys of animal companionship, all in a setting that is fun and interactive.”

Since it was first staged in 1988, the Pedigree and Whiskas Pet Show has grown to become the biggest of its kind in the Middle East.

All proceeds and donations from the day are for the benefit of K9 friends and Feline Friends, charities that provide good homes for abandoned animals, ensuring their well-being and regularly reuniting lost pets with their owners. Source

Three jailed for 15 years in drugs case

2008-02-16T16:06:00.001+03:00

The Criminal Court of First Instance has sentenced two Pakistani nationals M.I. and S.A. and a Nigerian J.A. to 15 years in prison after they were found guilty of smuggling drugs into the country.

In the same case, a 23-year-old Pakistani, identified as A.K., was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

He got a lesser jail term because his cooperation with the law-enforcement authorities led to the arrest of his accomplices.

The court also fined all the four Dh50,000 each and ordered their deportation after completion of their terms.

According to court records, A.K. arrived at the Dubai International Airport from Pakistan on April 19, 2007. After the immigration officials told him that they had not received a copy of his visa document, he got nervous. Subsequently, during questioning he confessed that he was carrying heroin concealed in his clothes.

A.K. also admitted that two of his accomplices, M.I. and S.A., had managed to pass through the immigration channels.

Thereafter, swift investigations carried out by Dubai Police’s Anti-Narcotics Department led the investigators to the hotel in Dubai where M.I. and S.A. had checked in.

The police raided the hotel room, arrested the two and recovered a huge quantity of heroin from them.

When questioned, the duo confessed that the heroin consignment was meant to be delivered to an African, identified as J.A.

As none of the two knew J.A., an undercover policeman was assigned the task of delivering the drugs. When J.A. fell into the trap he attempted to flee but was promptly overpowered and arrested. Source

Gang of four arrested for thefts in Bur Dubai

2008-02-15T21:33:00.001+03:00

A gang of thieves, consisting of four Georgian men and a Russian woman, has been busted by the Dubai Police and stolen goods recovered from their possession.

The gang, according to police, had carried out eight thefts in a commercial area in Bur Dubai.

They had targeted shops that stocked jewellery, mobile phones, watches and crystalware and trading companies and small shops that had no security guards, police sources said.

On January 28, Bur Dubai Police Station received information about a series of thefts in a commercial centre in Bur Dubai area.

Investigations by CID officials revealed that in all the crimes the thieves had gone about their job in a highly professional manner without leaving any clues behind.

After sustained surveillance, CID teams managed to track down the thieves who lived in an apartment in the Budang area in Sharjah.

On January 30, around 4am, a Dubai Police team in coordination with Sharjah Police, raided the apartment and arrested four Georgian men, identified as B.T., B.M., J.K., and A.J., and the Russian woman, identified as A.S..

During the raid, stolen jewellery, cameras, mobile phones and watches were recovered.

The arrested have been referred to Dubai Public Prosecution for further investigations.

The police have asked the owners of shops and trading companies to identify their goods. Source

Dubai Police bust European ATM robbers

2008-02-11T22:31:00.000+03:00

Dubai Police has busted a gang of Europeans who committed a series of cheating and fraud operations using fake credit cards.

A commercial bank alerted Dubai Police's department of criminal investigations on early February that unidentified persons used fake credit cards to withdraw money from its ATM at a shopping centre in Bur Dubai.

Acting upon these information, a team from the unit for combating economic crimes chalked out a plan and set ambushes which finally led them to arrest two members of the European ATMs robbers while approaching an ATM at Rafa commercial centre.

Police sleuths inspected the handbag of the prime suspect where they found 37 fake credit cards and AED 13,279. Some 40 fake credit cards and AED 12,200 were found with the second suspect.

Policemen also searched the robbers' hotel room in Bur Dubai where they stumbled upon 132 fake credit cards. Total funds seized with the first and second suspects reached AED 138,179 and AED 205,000 respectively. (WAM)

Businessman gives Dh1.97m to free 10 prisoners

2008-02-10T07:09:00.000+03:00

A businessman in the UAE has donated Dh1.97m for the release of 10 Muslim prisoners who were unable to pay the blood money.

Brigadier Mohammed Humaid Al Suwaidi, Director of General Department of Punitive and Corrective Establishment, has praised the businessman, who has refused to disclose his identity.

He had previously donated a huge amount that had enabled the release of a number of male prisoners.

Major Marwan Julfar, Director of Prison Guards Section explained that the current donation will be paid to enable the release of Muslim prisoners who were convicted in manslaughter cases and have stayed in prison for a long time for failure to pay the blood money.

Major Julfar said that as per the instructions of Lieutenant-General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police the Humanitarian Section exerted efforts to release prisoners by contacting insurance companies to exempt and or decrease the diya amount. Source

Newborn found abandoned

2008-02-08T15:22:00.000+03:00

An 18-year-old Iraqi girl and a youth from Al Ain who is studying in a Dubai institution have been detained by Umm Al Quwain Police after a newborn baby was found abandoned on a chilly January 30 night.

The baby was found lying in a cane hamper in the Al Shabiya Al Beda area in Umm Al Quwain around 11pm. The new-born is currently recuperating in a hospital.

According to a source in the UAQ Police, the girl from Sharjah, identified as M.A., reportedly had an affair with a UAE national, identified as S.W. Their illicit relationship resulted in the girl’s pregnancy. When the girl confessed the matter to her parents, the latter tried to coax the man into marrying the girl. However, the man refused to do so.

The source added that finding no way, the girl befriended a youth from Al Ain, who promised to marry her, despite knowing about the girl’s pregnancy. The youth’s parents, apparently, agreed to the marriage.

In the meantime the girl delivered the baby and the couple abandoned the newborn. After investigations, the couple were taken into custody. The UAQ Police in coordination with Sharjah Police are now making efforts to locate the girl’s previous lover, who she claimed fathered the child.Technorati Profile Source

Conmen hack into UAE Ministry websites

2008-02-07T19:49:00.001+03:00

A bogus recruitment agency has linked its website to three UAE ministry websites and is sending jobseekers fake visa applications, senior officials told Gulf News yesterday.

The websites are Ministry of Labour, Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD) and the Ministry of Education websites, the officials said.

A Ministry of Labour official revealed that it was not possible to take action against the agency as it has only linked its website to the Ministry websites. “I advise people to be extra cautious when they are applying for a job online," he said.

Brigadier Mohammad Ahmad Al Merri, Director General of DNRD added that investigations are underway.
In a statement released earlier by WAM, Dr Hanif Hasan, Minister of Education, warned job seekers to verify the authenticity of their appointment letters after the Ministry web site was hacked.

The warning follows after job applicants at the Ministry were shocked to find that their appointment letters signed by the Minister, were actually forged.

A teacher who came to the Ministry of Education to finalise her appointment, had brought with her one of the forged letters of appointment which she printed from the Ministry’s website, the statement said.

The person, or persons, is processing job applications and giving people fake appointment letters, it added.

Dr. Hassan urged all applicants at the ministry to verify the authenticity of the Ministry’s documents and deal with the Ministry only through legal channels.

Officials said the issue has been sent to legal experts for action. Source

524 grams of heroin recovered from dead man’s body

2008-02-07T19:24:00.000+03:00

As many as 40 capsules containing crude heroin weighing 524 grams were recovered from the stomach of the 32-year-old Pakistani national whose decomposed body was found in a Sharjah hotel room on January 30.

According to police, Nazeer Al Deen Mazhar had arrived at Dubai International Airport on January 26 on a visit visa and checked into a hotel in Sharjah. He managed to smuggle the drug into the country by swallowing the capsules.

According to Brig. Abdulla Ghader Al Amri, Acting Director-General of Sharjah Police Forensic Laboratory, the stomach of the deceased had bloated due to decomposition.

According to the forensic report, some of the capsules burst inside the stomach resulting in his death.

The contents of the capsules were probably meant for refinement at a later stage or used for sniffing or injecting.

The police have launched efforts to trace those for whom the drugs had been smuggled into the country. Source

Two Britons arrested in Dubai for drug possession

2008-02-06T10:42:00.000+03:00

Two British men face jail terms of four years each after being arrested in the tourist hot-spot of Dubai for possessing small quantities of drugs, the 7Days newsaper reported on Tuesday.

A 29-year-old man, who was not named, was caught by customs officers at Dubai International Airport with 1.2 grams of cocaine (0.04 ounces), the English language daily reported.

An unnamed 25-year-old man was also detained at the airport for carrying 0.33 grams (0.01 ounces) of marijuana in his luggage.

Both men admitted to the charge of possessing illegal narcotics and will be sentenced later this month.

The Western-oriented emirate of Dubai, one of seven that make up the United Arab Emirates, is a leisure hub in the oil-rich Gulf and draws millions of visitors every year.

But the UAE imposes tough penalties for all drug-related offences -- four years is the usual sentence for possession while trafficking carries the death penalty.

Dubai is highly popular with Britons, one million of whom visited the city state in 2005. About 100,000 British nationals live in Dubai, and 20,000 more reside in other parts of the UAE. (AFP)

Mohammed pardons 216 inmates

2008-02-06T08:53:00.000+03:00

His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE, in his capacity as the Ruler of Dubai, yesterday ordered the release of 216 inmates from Dubai prisons.

The inmates were pardoned to mark the appointment of Shaikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum as Crown Prince and Shaikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid as Deputy Ruler of Dubai. (WAM)

Filipino gets 15 years for killing pregnant wife

2008-02-06T08:46:00.000+03:00

The Dubai Court of First Instance has sentenced a Filipino to 15 years in prison after he was found guilty of murdering his wife, R.L., on suspicion of infidelity. He will be deported on completion of his jail term. The victim was a live-in housemaid with a British family.

According to court records, the accused decided to kill his wife, a housemaid, because he suspected the child that she was carrying in her womb was not his. The couple had quarrelled over the issue several times.

On the basis of his confessional statement to the police, the prosecution alleged that the accused confronted his wife at her employer’s house, while her employer was away. He grabbed her by the neck and strangled her while banging her head against the bathroom wall which resulted in her death. During the struggle, the victim bit his fingers, resulting in injuries to the accused’s fingers. The accused could not give a convincing explanation to the police for the injuries.

After committing the crime, the accused fled through the window, the court was told. A criminal laboratory report later established that the defendant was the biological father of the baby, who died along with his mother. The court found him guilty and sentenced him to 15 years in jail to be followed by deportation. Source

Youth stabs father to death

2008-02-05T08:51:00.000+03:00

The Dubai Police have referred a 23-year-old Pakistani national A.N. to Public Prosecution for allegedly murdering his 62-year-old father. The incident took place in Al Safia Building in the Hor Al Anz area of Dubai on February 1, 2008.

The suspect, according to his mother, is mentally unstable.

According to police, the suspect’s father, identified as Chaudhry, gave Dh10 to his wife for buying a pair of batteries. The woman spent Dh8 and gave the remaining Dh2 to A.N. and went for a walk. A.N. spent the amount on cigarettes. On knowing this, Chaudhry admonished his son who, apparently in a fit of rage, allegedly stabbed his father on his head.

The suspect then ran out to inform his mother, who along with some neighbours rushed to her home. The police were informed immediately, but before they could arrive Chaudhry succumbed to his injuries. Source

Two cops get life term for rape

2008-02-02T17:17:00.000+03:00

The Dubai Court of First Instance has sentenced two policemen - 25-year-old Yemeni identified as AS and 23-year-old Emirati identified as SM, to life in prison for being found guilty of rape.

Judge Abdul Majeed Mohammed Al Nazami also ordered the first accused to be deported after serving the sentence.

According to court records, the duo accosted an Uzbek woman, identified as AK, when she was walking toward her house in Freej Al Murar in the wee hours of a morning in July 2007. Since the woman was under the influence of liquor and had been illegally staying in the UAE, she tried to run away from the policemen. However, the duo pursued the woman to her apartment building and pinned her down in the staircase. Both of them then raped her one by one. Source

Asian held for stealing Dh450,000 from car

2008-01-29T07:32:00.000+03:00

A 39-year-old Asian expatriate was arrested on Sunday for allegedly stealing Dh450,000 from the car of an Emirati when he entered a supermarket in Digdaga area here after parking the vehicle.

Lieutenant-Colonel Salem Sultan Al Darmaki, who heads the Investigation Section at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), said the suspect, identified as M.G.A. from an Asian country, was arrested from his house and Dh300,000 of the stolen money seized.

According to Al Darmaki, the Emirati man informed the police last Wednesday that the money was missing from the car when he returned from the supermarket.

During investigation, the police learnt that the suspect had followed the Emirati man from a bank at Nakheel after seeing the latter withdrawing the amount. The official said the suspect broke open the door of the car and stole the money after the Emirati had gone to the supermarket leaving the cash in the car.

Undercover agents saw a woman depositing Dh85,000 at one of the ATMs in Ras Al Khaimah and suspected her to be the wife of the suspect. They followed her up to her house.

Later, the police raided the apartment and searched the place after interrogating the man and his wife. As much as Dh300,000 was found hidden behind the television set, Al Darmaki said.

The officer added that the suspect confessed to stealing the money. He kept Dh300,000, which the police recovered, in the house while Dh85,000 had been deposited in the wife’s bank account. He spent the rest of the money.

The accused has been referred to the Public Prosecution. Source

Russian woman locked up in villa

2008-01-29T07:26:00.000+03:00

Dubai Police has referred an Iranian expatriate, who was arrested for alleged illegal confinement of a Russian woman in a villa in Jebel Ali, to the Public Prosecution.
On Saturday, the operations room of the police received an SMS from a woman complaining that she had been locked up in a room inside a villa for over two days.
The police rushed to the site and broke into the one bedroom apartment on the ground floor and found the woman locked up in a dark storeroom of 2x1 metres.
The police rushed the woman to the hospital after she complained of fatigue.

The 29-year-old woman, identified only as N., told the police that she was brought to the UAE on a visit visa three months ago by the 36-year-old Iranian, A.M., who was the director and partner of a private company in Dubai.

She said the man had promised to employ her in his company but did not do so.

On January 24, he returned from a business trip abroad. On the day, they fought with each other after he allegedly tried to have sex with her, which she refused. He slapped her and locked her up in the room in the night where she remained till Saturday without food or water.

She told the police that the mobile phone she used to send the SMS belonged to her friend but she had it with her.

During interrogation, the Iranian who lives on the upper floor of the same villa, denied the accusation saying that the woman knew several men and that she might have been locked up by any one of them. Source

Living in a car parked in mountainous area due to fear of arrest

2008-01-24T14:27:00.000+03:00

A 57-year-old man is living in his car in the mountainous area of Al Munaei, Ras Al Khaimah, due to fear of being arrested for loan default.

"I am in debt of Dh480,000. I have taken a bank loan to get one of my sons married and the rest of the money I borrowed to renovate my house," said Khalifa Ahmad Humaid Saleh Al Dahmani, an Emirati resident of Dubai.

"I prefer death to detention. I have a bottle of poison kept ready to commit suicide before the police get closer to me," said Al Dahmani, a government employee who was sacked for long absence from work.

"I have suffered the heat of the summer, heavy rain and the cool mountainous weather and my own family refuse to help me," said the father of four working sons.

Al Dahmani does not know what the future holds for him. Source

Gardener held for stealing Dh1.5 million from villa

2008-01-24T10:01:00.000+03:00

The Dubai Police on Tuesday arrested a Bangladeshi gardener for allegedly stealing Dh1.5 million from a villa in Al Garhoud.

On Monday, an Indian businessman called up the police to inform them that he found Dh1.5 million in cash kept in his cupboard missing after he returned from an evening outing with his family.

While enquiring about the people who had access to the villa, the businessman informed the police that a Bangladeshi national, M.Iqbal, 27, who was not on his sponsorship, worked for him as part-time gardener.

He was not seen in the evening when the family returned home.

The CID officials learnt that Iqbal had some friends and relatives working in Al Aweer vegetable market.

The police detained a relative of the gardener who later disclosed that Iqbal was in a farm in Dubai.

The police raided the farm on Tuesday and arrested the suspect and seized the bag of stolen cash.

During interrogation, he confessed to the crime. Soon after the family went out, he sneaked into the master bedroom of the villa and stole the money.

He said he committed the crime because the businessman had not paid him his salary for the past several months.

He was promised a salary of Dh1,000 per month.

Brigadier Khamis Mattar Al Mazina, Director of General Department of Criminal Investigatation, warned the villa owners not to keep valuables and large amounts of cash at home.

He also noted that most villa owners left the windows and doors unlocked, encouraging thieves.

He added that the residents should not trust their domestic servants completely and allow them to enter their rooms. They should also keep their valuables in banks or safer places. Source

Call for continued help to families of prisoners

2008-01-23T07:19:00.000+03:00

Many charitable organisations in Arab countries have discontinued help to prisoners because of shrinking financial resources, speakers at the third Gulf Charitable Activities Conference said here on Monday.
Experts in the field of charity work from seven Arab countries are attending the conference, which began on Sunday.

The conference focused on financial, administrative and legislative issues related to charity work in the Gulf countries.

Presenting a paper on ‘Charity work to assist needy families of prisoners under the Shariah and the legal perspective’, Dr Mohammed Abu Al Wafa, Professor of Law at the University of Emirates, said the condition of the prisoners’ families had not attracted much attention from social scientists.

“Field studies prove that these families suffer socially and economically. This is mainly due to the insufficiency of government funding. The society is obliged to help the families of prisoners to live a life free from want and according to the acceptable standard of living.

“This would not only benefit these families but it indirectly assists in the rehabilitation of prisoners. Such a gesture is more likely to change their attitude towards society and social values,” he said.

Dr Mustafa Mahmoud, an economic researcher in Egyptian Saudi Financial Bank, in his paper on the role of Islamic charities in alleviating poverty, suggested establishing a common Islamic bank in the Gulf for helping the poor. He said, “Such a bank can effectively contribute to the alleviation of poverty through a system of interest-free loans.”

Dr Al Mahmoud recommended the integration of the Islamic developmental and charity NGOs to come up with projects with funding by the proposed Islamic bank that could give the poor a steady income. This bank could offer realistic solutions to the problems faced by the poor in the Islamic and Arab world.

Dr Mohammed Al Majjali, Dean of Shariah at the University of Jordan, presented a paper on the role of relief foundations in developing international relations and dialogue between civilisations.

He spoke about the dangers of the capitalistic system around the world which classified and divided people and the role of relief operations in decreasing poverty.

“There are huge relief operations by the West, but at the same time we find that they themselves cause most of the disasters around the world,” he said. Source

Letters from Readers: "Mistaken Identity"

2008-01-21T15:22:00.000+03:00

"I would like to tell you about my recent experience I had on a trip to Dubai.
I arrived at the early morning hours on Tuesday 15th January. I was travelling with my husband who is a captain for an international airline based in Asia. I had decided to go on a trip with him which allowed me to stop in Dubai for 24 hours on our way to London. I had a lovely day in Dubai visiting the fantastic shopping malls and even had the opportunity to go snowboarding in the indoor ski slope situated in the Mall of the Emirates.

I checked in for my flight at midnight the same day. Everything went as smoothly as to be expected at the airport until I arrived at immigration where the female immigration officer returned my passport to me with a smile and told me to go to the far corner to the immigration office to receive a stamp. At the time I thought it was a little odd as I wasn’t heading in the right direction thru immigration to board my flight although these days there’s so much more security we just seem to do what we’re told.

When I got to the separate immigration office there was approximately 6 male Arab immigration officers looking at my passport and only speaking in Arabic. I asked them if there was a problem and they told me to let them do their job at which time I stayed quiet for a few more minutes and started to get worried so I then asked if I was going to be able to make my flight as it was due to take off in less than 30 minutes. They then passed me a piece of paper with only Arabic writing and a small photocopied photo of a Caucasian girl with the name Kym Maree Day written in English underneath it. I passed it back to the officer and told him that this wasn’t me; my name is Kym Maree Gilsenan. One of the men said ‘you worked for Emirates?’ I replied ‘yes, a very long time ago’. I worked for Emirates Airlines for 2 years from 1996-1998. He then said ‘you had a bank loan?’ I replied ‘yes’. He then said that I did not pay back the loan in which I told him I did a long time ago. At this stage I realized that he thought I was this girl in the picture. With desperation I tried to tell these men that I was not this girl. They told me to take a seat at which time I started to realize that my situation was not looking good as my flight was due to take off and I could see that they thought I was this girl in the picture.

I then sent a text message through to my husband telling him that there was a problem and I was getting scared as they believed I was somebody else. My husband then contacted the airline ground staff and they both came to meet me at immigration. They asked my husband if I had a previous passport with a different name and he said yes. He told them that my maiden name was Kym Maree Collins, he wrote it down for them to put into the computer and compare the passport photo but they refused and then told my husband to get out of the office. The officers just kept saying that I was this girl who once worked for Emirates Airlines and had a 132, 000 AED (42, 000 AUD) bank loan to pay for. They told us that our name, date of birth and nationality were the same. We only saw her name written in English, everything else was in Arabic so it was just my word against these 6 obviously aggressive men that I was not this girl. I couldn't’t believe that this other girl had the same first and middle name spelt exactly the same as mine but she also had the same date of birth, it sounded like something from a movie.

I was then taken to the police station in the airport to try to explain my situation to some male police officers; I was allowed to have my husband and the airline agent with me. We desperately tried to convince the police officers that this was a different girl, after a great deal of confusion and everyone talking loudly in Arabic we were told to come back into immigration in the airport terminal which gave us a burst of confidence. The police officer met with the immigration officers from before. After an intense conversation in Arabic we were told to go back to the police station in the airport which was obviously a step back. I was told to take a seat in a room, I was then told that I wouldn’t be departing Dubai on my flight and I would be escorted by a female police officer and a male detective from the CID to the main police station in Dubai. My husband was very distressed with what he should do; it was very difficult to gain any information from them. There was a lot of loud talking in Arabic but no one would give us any information. They said that my husband couldn’t stay with me. He was supposed to operate a flight from Dubai to London and the flight was already delayed because of my situation. I told him that he should go to work and that I would be ok. So after a few tears from being very scared and extremely confused I said my goodbye’s to my husband and went with the police officer and the detective to go and sort out my situation.

On arrival at the station I was taken to see a male senior police officer who seemed stressed as he was yelling at everyone who came into his office. When he finally got to my case he told me in his raised voice that I needed to pay this loan of 132, 000 dirham’s or bad things would happen to me. I tried to explain that I was not this person but he wouldn’t believe me. Eventually the detective told me to ‘come’ so I left with them for the drive back to the airport police station. I had really hoped that it would’ve been sorted out with the interview although we left without any promise of the situation being sorted. I started to cry and felt helpless as I saw my husbands aircraft take off and pass the window of the office I was in. Nobody was listening to me or explaining anything to me, any documents I saw was in Arabic and everyone was speaking Arabic around me. I had no idea what was going to happen. It was now 5am and I was just told to sit in an office in the police station back at the airport.

Every time I needed to go to the bathroom, I had to be escorted by a female officer. I felt like a criminal and that’s how I was being treated. At about 6.30am I asked one of the officers if he knew what was happening with my case he laughed and said ‘your case? I just arrived and know nothing’. He didn’t make any effort to find out for me.

At about 8am I was escorted by a new female police officer and a male detective to the main Dubai police station again. I was put in a room to be interviewed by a new senior police officer and my only hope was that he wasn’t as stressed and angry as the one earlier at 3am. I sat in his office while he did some paperwork, dealt with another case that came in after me and proceeded to greet every man that walked passed his door. He did not talk to me until about 40 minutes later. He told me to sit at his desk while he pulled out the file of this other girl they thought was me. He opened it to a photocopy of a cheque written to Emirates Bank from Kym Maree Day. He asked me if that was my signature which I replied no. He looked at me with confusion and I just started crying in between trying to say ‘this is what I’ve been trying to tell everyone, this girl is not me’. He then showed me a photocopy of her passport. It was only then that I could explain things more clearly to him as it was the first time that I had been shown a document in English. I compared her passport to mine and told him that we had the same first and middle name but different last name and that my name was quite common in Australia. Then I looked at her date of birth and I realised that her date of birth was 4th April 1973 and mine is 21st July 1975 so it was in fact not the same birthday even though the men were telling me that it was. I was also able to point to my place of birth was Brisbane and hers was Townsville. He then looked at me and asked me why they didn’t see this at the airport. I didn’t know how to respond to such a basic question without breaking down with tears of frustration. After a few more minutes of him looking at the passport he handed my passport to me and said ‘you can go’.

I couldn’t believe it. After being denied my flight to London with my husband, being held for about 8 hours in police custody, being escorted to the bathroom by a police officer, no food, no sleep, no suitcase(it went to London) and no where to stay I was being told that I could go! I asked for him to call me a taxi and he told me I could get one on the street. As it turns out I couldn’t get a taxi so I walked 45min from the police station to the hotel I had stayed at the day before, with my husband, dragging my carry on bag with me.

I had to pay 435 AED (137 AUD) for a hotel and wait until midnight for the next flight to London. The Dubai police didn’t offer me a ride to my hotel, didn’t offer me a flight on another airline to get me to London sooner, didn’t offer to pay for a hotel room and least of all they didn’t even offer me an apology for having the wrong person. I have always enjoyed my visits to Dubai since living there but I cannot believe the way they treated me. It was very rude and disrespectful. I am now a nervous wreck when having to go through immigration at airports and feel for any ex Emirates employees that may have the same first and middle name as a criminal. "

Kym Gilsenan

37 child abuse cases reported in Sharjah

2008-01-19T22:42:00.000+03:00

Since the launch of the Child Help Services by Sharjah Social Services Department (SSSD) nearly two months ago, 37 children were found to have been abused physically, sexually and emotionally by care-givers.

This was disclosed by SSSD Director-General Afaf Ibrahim Al Miri to Khaleej Times yesterday.

Al Miri said the Child Help Services was launched in November last year with the aim of curbing child abuse and providing rehabilitation services to help the abused child regain confidence.

A team comprising physicians, nurses, social workers and psychiatrists has been formed to handle child abuse cases. People from the emirate can call the hotline 1131 and report cases of child abuse.

More than 50 per cent of the abused children were Emiratis hailing from various parts of the emirate. Four of the cases were of sexual abuse, three physical abuse and remaining accounted for verbal and psychological abuse.

Most of the complaints of child abuse were lodged by the children’s relatives. “The relatives who witnessed the suffering of the abused children called the Child Help Services hotline number to provide information.

“In some cases, parents whose children were abused sexually or physically, also filed complaints,” according to Al Miri.

Al Miri said the idea of launching such an initiative was prompted by the case of physical abuse of a girl child by her parents. The case was brought to the notice of the SSSD by the girl child’s neighbour.

“A team of social workers and physicians launched an investigation into the case and finally succeeded in saving the child,” she added.

“Although many people are reluctant to get involved in other people’s lives. But when it comes to child abuse, you shouldn’t keep mum. If you know of a child being abused or even suspected abuse, you have the responsibility to report it. By reporting, you can make a tremendous difference in the life of a child and the child’s family, especially if you help stop the abuse early,” Al Miri pointed out.

“Early identification and treatment can help mitigate the long-term effects of abuse. If the abuse is stopped and the child receives competent treatment, the abused child can begin to regain a sense of self-confidence and trust. Parents may also benefit from support, parent training and family management,” she said. Source

Man stabbed in parking lot

2008-01-15T06:55:00.000+03:00

Panic gripped residents of Al Habtoor Building on King Faisal Street when one of its residents was stabbed yesterday in the parking lot, while he was preparing to go to work.
He is currently admitted to the ICU of Kuwaiti Hospital in Sharjah, where doctors stated his condition to be critical.

The victim, a 57-year-old Sudanese veterinarian, was stabbed at around 7.45am. At the time, he was carrying a briefcase and was trying to open his car door.

Based on the description provided by the victim, three suspects have been arrested by the police and are currently being interrogated. The police said that theft could be the motive behind the crime. However, nothing was actually stolen from the site.

The Sudanese vet, Khaled Al Sinarry, suffered stab wounds in his right kidney which led to severe bleeding, sources at the hospital said.

Speaking to Khaleej Times, Salwa, wife of the victim, said that on the fateful day her husband had left for office as usual. She, however, suddenly saw him back, opening the door and crawling on the floor with a lot of blood on his clothes.

“I was in a state of shock when my sister called the Al Gharb police station. The police arrived immediately and rushed my husband to the hospital,” she said.

There were no security guards around when the incident happened and the light of the parking lot was switched off, she said. “However, despite the darkness in the parking lot, my husband has identified the assailant, who, according to him, is of Asian origin with small eyes.”

Meanwhile, Fawzia, a resident of the building, said the building’s residents are all panic-stricken after the incident. “Everyone is in a state of fear, especially while in the three-storey parking lot in the building. There is no proper lighting in the parking lot. Also, there is no camera installed there,” she rued.

Mohammed. K, another resident, said in the absence of security guards, parking lots make people vulnerable. “I prefer to park my car on the street when I reach home late,” he revealed.
Source

Two jailed for human trafficking

2008-01-15T06:53:00.000+03:00

The Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday sentenced two Indians, S., 34, and F., 36, to 10 years in jail, followed by deportation, on charges of human trafficking.
As per court records, the case unfolded in June last year when the accused forced M. and A. into flesh trade. They then offered to sell one of them for Dh9,000.

However, one of the victims escaped from the house they were detained in, and informed the police of their plight. A trap was set and one of the accused was apprehended red-handed while offering the women for sale to an undercover agent. The other accused is still at large. Source

15-year jail for three for raping women

2008-01-15T06:50:00.000+03:00

The Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday sentenced two men, M., 31, and R., 26, to 15 years in jail, followed by deportation, on the charges of rape.
As per court records, the two men had kidnapped A. on her way home in April last year. They drove her to their apartment, where they sexually assaulted her several times.

In another case of rape, the Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday ordered A., 23, to serve 15 years in prison, for being found guilty of raping B. The accused, with another accomplice, still at large, offered the victim a lift home in April last year. They took her to a remote area in the desert, where they raped her. Source

Shelter for victims of human trafficking

2008-01-14T12:03:00.000+03:00

The UAE Red Crescent Authority (UAE RCA) in collaboration with the UAE National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking (NCCHT) announced the opening of a new centre in Abu Dhabi for sheltering women and children who are victims of human trafficking and other forms of abuse or exploitation.

The centre will serve as a safe haven for the victims, where they will be provided medical care, counselling and social support.

Dr Anwar Mohammed Gargash, Minister of State for FNC Affairs and head of the NCCHT stated that this initiative comes in line with the UAE strategy to combat human trafficking.

He said the decision to establish this shelter reiterates the UAE’S strong commitment to combat the transnational crime of human trafficking, and focuses on the four major pillars of the UAE National Committee’s strategy to tackle this issue which includes strengthening legislation, enforcing laws and training law enforcement officials, providing support and protection to the victims and promoting bilateral and international cooperation in tackling this issue. (WAM)

Father charged with molesting daughters

2008-01-10T21:56:00.000+03:00

A Lebanese father has been charged with molesting his four daughters, aged between seven and 14.
The case was heard by the Sharjah Shariah Court on Tuesday.
His Lebanese wife who lived in Sharjah filed a complaint at the Al Gharb police station in February, 2007, saying that her husband had been molesting her daughters. He had been molesting his eldest daughter for the past seven years, she said.

She came to know of it only when the 14-year-old narrated her ordeals to her. The daughter told her she had been scared to tell her about it but finally decided to do so after she watched a TV programme highlighting a similar issue and also after she discovered that the father was also molesting her sisters.

The mother told the police that she could not believe it at first because she lived a happy life with her husband, though he was unemployed. He usually sat at home with the daughters.

When the mother enquired with the other daughters, they also narrated similar incidents.

The mother said that initially she could not believe what she had heard from her daughters although she had filed a police complaint but was convinced after the man called her up from detention and apologised for his actions promising not to repeat them.

The apology came after the police detained him following her complaint. He advised her not to go ahead with the case because it would affect the daughters’ reputation.

At the first hearing on December 18 last year, the father pleaded not guilty and said that he had no relation with his wife and daughters following a dispute and that he had refused to renew their passports.

However, the girls had testified before the Public Prosecution that they had been molested repeatedly by the father.

The advocate of the mother, Issa bin Haider, told Khaleej Times that such cases were very rare in the UAE community. He said the father had denied the accusation, saying the woman had cooked up the story because she had a dispute with him.

Haider said such cases did not usually come before the courts because most families feared loss of reputation and family break-up.

He said if found guilty of incest, the father could be sentenced to three years to a life term in jail followed by deportation. Also, the man risked forfeiture of his paternal right to custody of his daughters, the lawyer said. The hearing will continue. Source

Court acquits housewife of prostitution charges

2008-01-06T21:31:00.000+03:00

A 20-year-old Iraqi girl has escaped being deported to her war-torn country after a court acquitted her of prostitution charges.
The Dubai Court of First Instance acquitted the 20-year-old housewife, identified as U.H., of having sex with men for money for lack of evidence.

The Public Prosecution had charged U.H. with prostitution. Two Emirati policemen, A.H., 26, and Y.M., 25, were also charged with having group sex with U.H., her 16-year-old sister, I.H. and compatriot friend, H.M., also 16.

I.H. and H.M. are being tried at the Juveniles’ Court after the Public Prosecution charged them with prostitution.
The Court of First Instance also sentenced the Emirati policemen to three months in jail each. The 26-year-old was fined Dh1,000 for possessing liquor. Source

Indian brothers get life term for murder in Dubai

2008-01-01T20:46:00.000+03:00

A court here has sentenced two Indian brothers to life imprisonment for murdering a compatriot and dumping his body in a hole after stealing his mobile phone.
The Dubai Court of First Instance awarded the life term, which effectively means 25 years in prison, to the Indian men, who have been identified only as 42-year-old JO and 28-year-old OO.

They were convicted of the premeditated murder of their compatriot DB, who was beaten with an iron bar and suffocated with a wet towel. The brothers were also found guilty of stealing his mobile phone.
The brothers will be deported after serving their sentence, which is subject to appeal.
The duo denied they intended to kill DB and told the court they accidentally murdered him after a quarrel. However, confessed to drinking and hiding the victim's body in a hole. Source

Higher upkeep amount if income of former husband increases

2007-12-28T12:05:00.000+03:00

A man has to increase the maintenance amount he is paying to his former wife if his earnings go up, Minister of Justice Mohammed bin Nekhaira Al Dhaheri told Khaleej Times.
A divorcee, or any other person being paid the maintenance amount by a person, as per a court ruling, is entitled to a higher amount if the man, for example, gets a salary hike, or adds to his property, the minister said, while talking to KT here.

The minister made clear that the divorcee had the right for a hike in her maintenance amount because it’s directly proportional to the former husband’s income. “If the former husband’s income goes up, the maintenance amount should also go up,” said the minister. Source

Two cops in court for mugging visitor

2007-12-25T20:05:00.000+03:00

The Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday heard the case in which two policemen have been charged with mugging an Indian visitor.
As per the court records, 32-year-old policeman, N.S.H (an Omani national), and 29-year-old policeman, F.M.A (a Yemeni), approached the 33-year-old Indian visitor, T.R.G, a liquor dealer, at around 9.30am on October 14 last, while the latter was talking to one his friends. On seeing the policemen approaching them, the friend fled the scene, leaving T.R.G alone.

The two policemen then tied up the victim’s right hand to a pick-up vehicle parked nearby, frisked him, and took out his wallet which had Dh510 at the time.

The two also took away some liquor bottles of the victim before freeing him and ordering him to leave the scene right away. However, the victim reported the matter to the police.
Later, the Dubai Police, based on the description provided by the man, arrested the two policemen, who later confessed to their crime.

The Public Prosecution referred the case to the Dubai Court of First Instance. The court has fixed the next date of hearing for January. Source

Brothers held with 300,000 banned pills

2007-12-25T20:01:00.000+03:00

Dubai Police have foiled an attempt by two Syrian men to smuggle out 300,000 tablets of Keptagon, a performance-enhancing drug, to a neighbouring country.
The tablets were all seized by the police and the two accused were referred to the Dubai Public Prosecution, Khaleej Times has learnt. Keptagon is used illegally as a recreational drug.

The Narcotic Control Unit of Dubai Police received a tip-off that the two Syrian brothers were in possession of a large quantity of Keptagon tablets. Further interrogation revealed that the two, O.N. and M.N., who had brought in the drugs from another country, were now planning to smuggle it to a neighbouring country.

The police then laid a trap and undercover policemen convinced O.N. to sell the drug at Dh50 per tablet. As the Syrian brothers brought the drugs in plastic bags, they were arrested and referred to the Muraqqabat police station.

During their interrogation by the police, they confessed to having smuggled in the Keptagon tablets by putting them in a plastic bag and hiding it in a way that it was not spotted by X-rays. O.N., who had come to the UAE on a visit visa, had hidden the drugs in his vehicle.
The Public Prosecution has charged the two men with possessing narcotics with the intent of smuggling. Source

9 Indians jailed in Dubai for stealing

2007-12-18T22:03:00.000+03:00

Nine Indian sailors were sentenced to three months in jail each for stealing a box of shirts from a ship berthed at a port in Dubai.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the sailors of theft and possession of stolen materials. They will all be deported after serving their terms.

Two of them had earlier pleaded not guilty and denied stealing the shirts. A third suspect confessed to stealing the shirts and attempting to rob other ships in the port.
Six others, including a captain, told the court they received the shirts as gifts "without knowing that they were stolen". Source

School teacher loses job for beating up student

2007-12-14T14:01:00.000+03:00

A mathematics teacher of a public school, who thrashed one of his students, and chased another student out of his class, has been sacked from the job, a Ministry of Education (MoE) official has said.
The official said that a decision to this effect was taken by the MoE yesterday. Using his mobile phone camera, a student of the same school had secretly filmed the teacher in the act of beating up the student and chasing the other. The film was used as an evidence against the teacher, and led to the termination of his services, the MoL official said.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Education, Dr Hanif Hassan, has warned teachers against giving corporal punishment on, or threatening, students. Dr Hassan said that the school authorities would be liable for action in case students were meted out corporal punishment by teachers.
The minister issued the warning while inspecting the centres where the candidates who had applied for the posts of Central Department Directors at the MoE, appeared for interviews yesterday. The interviews will conclude today. Source

Police recover Dh1.2 mln stolen from a bank staff’s car

2007-12-14T13:58:00.000+03:00

Dubai Police have recovered Dh1.2 million stolen from the car of a Dubai-based bank employee, it was stated yesterday by Brigadier Khamis Mattar Al Mazina, director of the General Department of Criminal Investigation of Dubai Police.
The theft was committed last Monday, when the black Toyota Camry car was parked in the parking area of Hamrain Shopping Centre, Al Mazina said. One of the windows of the car had been broken open by the thieves.

Two Arab employees of a bank, A.M and M.M, were asked to deposit an amount of Dh2.1 million in various ATM machines of the bank and they first went to the Hamrian Centre. The car belongs to A.M.
The two men told the CID team that they had parked the car at around 10.20am on Monday, after which they went to the ATM machine in the shopping centre to deposit Dh900,000. When they returned, they found one of the car windows broken open and the remaining Dh1,200,000, which they had kept in the car, gone.
The police managed to identify the thieves, who had fled to a neighbouring country. With the coordination of the security authorities of the neighbouring country, Dubai Police managed to arrest two Canadian citizens of Iraqi origin, A.G and J.G.
During their interrogation, they told the police that they had been shadowing the two bank officials right from the time they had taken the money from the bank, and they followed them right to the parking area. Source

French boy’s rapists jailed for 15 years

2007-12-14T13:54:00.000+03:00

The Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday sentenced two Emiratis to 15 years in jail for kidnapping and raping a 15-year-old French boy.
“The court has sentenced the elder accused (36), who is HIV positive, and the other UAE national (18) to 15 years in jail,” Hussein Al Jaziri, the French boy’s lawyer, told Khaleej Times.

A juvenile court in Dubai is trying the third accused, 17. His trial is due to resume on December 25. Last month, the court had permitted the minor to take a psychological test.
Al Jaziri added: “The Dubai Court of First Instance has referred our Dh15 million compensation claim to the Dubai Civil Court.” The prosecution would appeal for a tougher sentence against the two men. Source

Fake currency racket busted in RAK

2007-12-11T08:12:00.000+03:00

Police have busted a counterfeit currency racket and arrested three men of African nationalities.
Fake dollars and dirhams and the chemicals used in making fake currencies were also seized in an operation on Sunday.
The trio, based in Dubai, have been referred to the public prosecution.

Colonel Adnan Al Zaabi, head of the Preventive Security Section of RAK Police, said the suspects had been making counterfeit currencies using various chemicals.
They had exchanged counterfeit dollars and dirhams for genuine currencies on several occasions.
The arrest followed a tip-off by an undercover agent who met the suspects and struck a deal. The police party raided the hotel and arrested the suspects red-handed. Source

Man tried to sell hashish to informant

2007-12-10T05:42:00.000+03:00

The trial of a driver who hid half a tonne of hashish in an underground hideout and tried to sell some of it to a police informant started on Sunday.
The 45-year-old Pakistani driver, A.K., pleaded innocent before the Dubai Court of First Instance. He was charged with possessing 505 kg of hashish for commercial intent and also with consuming the drug.
A major at Dubai police's Anti-Narcotics Department said an informant tipped them off that the driver was taking drugs.
"We were also told the suspect was about to deliver hashish to our agent for money... we arrested the driver in a sting operation and seized about 200 kg of hashish."
The rest of the drugs were found buried under a garage at a farm in Ras Al Khaimah. (Gulf News)

Court upholds death sentence of murderer

2007-12-10T05:38:00.000+03:00

The Appeal Court in Sharjah on Sunday upheld the death sentence against an American who murdered a German engineer last year, a legal source told Gulf News.

The court rejected the plea of Shahid Poliss King and confirmed the death sentence against him for killing Martin Herbert Steiner by suffocating him, stuffing the body in a suitcase and dumping it in the desert.
A court source told Gulf News Poliss, in his mid-30s, was sentenced to death while his Ethiopian partner, Fawzia Nigash Yousuf, was convicted of aiding and abetting the crime, theft and having an illicit affair.
Steiner, a 48-year-old German businessman, had been reported missing and his decomposed body was found 15 days later by police off the Dubai-Hatta Road.
Poliss, an American Muslim, entered the country on a visit visa using a forged British passport, according to sources.
Sources said he shaved his beard and posed as a gay on a website. Fawzia had contacted Poliss after reading a newspaper advertisement for a housemaid.
Poliss convinced Fawzia to offer sexual services to customers, and it was alleged the money received was to be used on the Al Qaida terror network.
Police reportedly found CDs at Poliss's house on how to make poisonous chemical substances and drugs. They also found pictures of girls aged less than eight sitting on his bed.
The Ethiopian woman got three years in prison followed by deportation. (Gulf News)

217 street vendors, beggars, illegal car washers nabbed

2007-12-07T12:11:00.000+03:00

Dubai Municipality inspectors, in cooperation with Dubai Police and the Dubai Naturalization and Residency Department, nabbed last month 217 persons including street vendors, beggars and illegal car washers.

According to Obeid Salem Al Shamsi, Assistant Director General of Dubai Municipality for Administrative and General Services Affairs, the sweep against the law-breakers had also resulted in the seizure of several low-quality goods, pirated CDs and food items.
Civic inspectors conduct daily spot checks in streets and public places to prevent street vending, begging and car washing in public places by individuals in violation of a ruling by the Ministry of Labour in this regard.
"The nine inspectors at the Security and Control Unit of the Administrative Affairs Department carry out regular checks. In November 2007, they caught a total of 217 people including 123 street vendors, 49 beggars, 39 car washers and six illegal butchers and fish cleaners," he said.
He noted that a total of 745 counterfeit products including ready-made garments, perfumes, cameras, and watches that were fake international brands were confiscated. Also, some 1,961 DVDs with pirated films, 40 pornographic movies, 142 foodstuff items including 140 boxes of fruits and vegetables and two bottles of honey were seized last month.
Al Shamsi explained that the law-breakers, who belong to various nationalities, would be handed over to the Dubai Naturalization and Residency Department for deportation in coordination with Dubai Police. He said the seized goods would be destroyed and disposed off safely after legal actions were taken against the violators.
Al Shamsi urged the public to call the Municipality Emergency office on 04-2232323 round-the-clock to report such illegal activities. (WAM)

Court hears case of four held on charges of prostitution

2007-12-05T11:36:00.000+03:00

The Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday heard the case of four persons charged with being involved in a flesh trade racket. The four include three women and a man.
The male suspect, M.N.S, 36, an Arab national, has also been charged with assaulting and abusing policemen on duty. Two of the women have been charged with engaging in flesh trade and overstaying their visit visa period.

As per court records, the police were tipped off that M.N.S was running a prostitution racket along with three women, K.B.L, 43, from Azerbaijan, A.D, 36, and O.B, 37, both from Uzbekistan.
On May 24 last, a team of Dubai Police posing as decoy customers approached the building in Al Refaa area, where the four were allegedly operating from. The police team met the women suspects at the building’s entrance and once the deal was agreed, they tried to arrest them on the spot.
At this point, M.N.S reached the scene and claimed that one of the women was his wife. During an altercation with the policemen that followed, he also assaulted and abused the latter.
He took the woman he was claiming to be his wife inside the flat and slammed the door.
The other two women told the police that they had actually been forced into the flesh trade by M.N.S. and his accomplice.
All four were arrested by the police. The court has fixed the next hearing in the case on December 25. Source

Flesh trade racket busted: over 240 arrested

2007-12-05T11:33:00.000+03:00

In raids carried out by the Dubai Police at 22 locations in the emirate, 247 people suspected of being involved in flesh trade racket have been arrested, it was announced by Lieutenant-General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police, at a Press conference here yesterday.

Also present at the Press conference was Brigadier Khamis Mattar Al Mazina, director of the General Department of Criminal Investigation, Dubai Police.
Those arrested include 170 women on charges of being sex workers, and 12 pimps. Also, scores of customers were held in the raids.
Dhahi Khalfan said that this was one of the biggest raids carried out by the Dubai Police in a flesh trade racket case.
The Dubai Police chief said they had received a tip-off that a well organised gang was running a flesh trade racket from a number of villas and flats in Dubai.
Dhahi Khalfan said that the women who were held in the raids are mostly East Asian nationals, while the customers belong to various nationalities.
The arrested people have been referred to the Public Prosecution. Source

Court orders Dh860,000 for causing accident

2007-12-05T11:30:00.000+03:00

The Fujairah Court of First Instance yesterday ordered a national, A.S, to pay Dh860,000 to A.A, another national, in compensation for a permanent disability he caused him in an accident.
As per court records, the accident happened in October 2006, when the victim, A.A, was hit by the car being driven by A.S. The accident happened on a road in Dibba.

The victim sustained serious injuries, including multiple fractures, and was rushed to Dibba Hospital for treatment.
A lawsuit was filed at the Fujairah Court of First Instance, where the victim’s lawyer sought a compensation of Dh5 million to compensate for the physical, psychological, and financial damages his client had suffered because of the accident.
The court, in view of the medical reports submitted, ordered A.S to pay A.A a compensation of Dh860,000. Source

UK DJ held at Dubai airport with drugs

2007-12-04T07:46:00.000+03:00

A popular British disc jockey (DJ) was detained at the Dubai International Airport by customs officials on November 23 for allegedly possessing drugs and pornographic material. He was referred to Public Prosecution on November 26.
The drum and bass icon, R.B., had flown into Dubai from Heathrow to play at a popular club when he was detained by the authorities.

Police sources told Khaleej Times, "On searching the DJ, who arrived at the airport around 7pm, the police found small quantities of marijuana in his bag and pornographic DVDs. During police interrogation, he said that he was not aware of the marijuana found in his bag.” The official added that traces of drugs were also found in his urine during lab tests by the Forensic Department.
The Public Prosecution is now expected to refer the case to the Dubai Criminal Courts. Simon Goldsmith, Second Secretary, Political and Media Affairs, at the British Embassy, Dubai, told Khaleej Times, "We are aware of the case and we are offering consular assistance."
An official from a local music distribution firm, which had booked R.B. for the gig, told Khaleej Times, "We had waited for nearly six hours for him to come out of the airport. However, later we got a call from his company in the UK and were told that he had been detained by officials."

Court orders brothers to pay diya for girl’s death

2007-12-03T08:54:00.000+03:00

The Federal Supreme Court recently ordered three brothers to pay blood money (diya) to the family of a girl who got electrocuted while drinking water from a water cooler installed by the brothers in front of their house as charity.

The apex court ruling on Wednesday said the fact that the water cooler was installed as a charity is no justification for neglecting its maintenance, which led to the death of the girl. The incident happened two years ago.
The court ordered the brothers to pay Dh50,000 collectively as diya to the family of the girl. Source

Court hears woman’s rape case

2007-12-01T10:40:00.000+03:00

The Dubai Court of First Instance heard the case of a 21-year-old Ethiopian woman who was allegedly raped by two men, including a UAE national, in their car, near Jumeirah Park, on September 23 last. The victim, B.M.Z, told the court that she was tricked by the 23-year-old Emirati, W.A, and his friend, into getting into the Emirati’s car.

The accused had offered to drop her home while she was in a shopping mall. However, the two suspects drove the car towards a deserted area near Jumeirah Park and raped her.
The woman also said that the two suspects dropped her near her house but not before snatching away her mobile and Dh600.
Medical tests of the victim had confirmed rape. During his police interrogation, W.A had confessed to raping the woman under the influence of alcohol. The national has been charged with kidnap, rape, theft and consuming of alcohol. Source

Mother of four strangled by ex-husband

2007-12-01T10:33:00.000+03:00

A 32-year-old UAE national reportedly strangled his former wife to death over disputes that included custody of their four children.
Sources in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Umm Al Quwain (UAQ) Police said the accused, Y.A.Kh, who has speech difficulties, strangled his former wife with a wire at around midnight a few days ago. The accused, who lives in Al Salma area, surrendered to the police after committing the crime.

Police sources said the two have four children from their marriage. They had moved court to settle some domestic disputes, including their children’s custody. The accused later led the police to the crime scene where the body of the woman was recovered by the police. Source