UAE to ease deportation rules for expat convicts

The UAE is enacting new laws that could involve easing measures related to deporting expatriates convicted in criminal cases, the press reported on Monday.

Judicial officials said they are working on amendments to the penal code to cope with global developments and ensure justice is served.

The amendments involve articles in the penal code dealing with deportation of expatriates convicted by courts in certain crimes, according to Jamal Hussein Al Sumaiti, director general of Dubai’s judicial institute.

“The new rules are expected to be enforced in the first quarter of 2013,” he said, quoted by the Dubai-based Arabic language daily Emirat Alyoum.

“The amendments will affect deportation rules issued by courts, including cases involving crimes of honour…in some of these crimes, the case is dropped and settled out of court while the convict is still has to be deported just as an administrative procedure…the amendments will tackle such issues.”

Nearly 80 per cent of the UAE’s eight million population are expatriates, mainly from south Asia and the other Arab countries.

Police records showed more than 5,000 foreigners had been deported from the UAE over the past six years because of criminal activity.

 

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