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Apex court upholds ruling in drugs case

ABU DHABI — The Federal Supreme Court has upheld a verdict giving a defendant five years in prison for possessing hashish and attempting to steal money from a company.

The Public Prosecution charged the defendant, Tamer S, with possessing and consuming hashish and also attempting to steal cash and a passport from the Manal General Maintenance Company. His attempts were foiled by an employee of the company.

He was also accused of impersonating a police detective, escaping from the reserve detention after smashing a glass door, and staying in the country as an illegal immigrant.

A woman identified as Ateeyat A. and another man identified as Mohammed S. faced the charge of not informing the police despite their knowledge of the defendant's crimes.

The Shariah Court of First Instance in Abu Dhabi sentenced the defendant to four years in prison for possessing drugs, an additional one year for the theft and impersonating a detective, and one month for escaping from prison.

It slapped him with a fine of Dh 500 for overstaying in the country illegally and ordered his deportation after serving his jail term.The other two suspects were acquitted.

Tamer S. contested the ruling at the Court of Appeals in Abu Dhabi, arguing that his confession was forcibly taken under police torture and that the urine sample teste for narcotics was not his. A medical report did mention some injuries. But the Court maintained that his injuries were self-inflicted, and upheld the earlier verdict.

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