Top UAE court backs 2 Bangladeshis

The UAE’s top court set a precedent when it overturned jail and deportation sentences issued by two lower courts against two Bangladeshi men accused of stealing, on the grounds their confessions were wrested in the absence of an interpreter.

In a rare sentence, the Federal Supreme Court (FSC) rejected the verdicts involving three months imprisonment and deportation from the UAE against the two defendants and decided to send them back to a new court for a fresh trial.

A criminal court had sentenced the two to three months in jail and ordered their deportation after they confessed to stealing money, prompting the two to appeal the verdict.

The sentenced was upheld by the court of appeals, pushing the defendants to appeal again with the Supreme Court on the grounds they do not understand Arabic and they were forced to make confessions in the absence of an Arabic interpreter.

“The court overturned the sentence against the two defendants and decided to send them back to an appeals court for a new trial,” Emarat Al Youm daily said.

“The court decided that the two were made to give confessions in the absence of a legal Arabic interpreter although they are foreigners and do not know Arabic.

“This made their confessions null and void and the confessions violated a basic judicial rule,” the paper added without mentioning where the two were tried.
 

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.