14-year-old girl to be tried for adultery

The father of a 14-year-old girl from Ajman who will appear in court on a charge of adultery later this month, is distressed and fears for her future.

“The trial will start in spite of the age ceiling set for trials on sexual related crimes by the UAE law,” according to a report in Gulf News.

“The law states that the minimum age of suspects in crimes related to sex must be 15 years. Such cases should be conducted in special juvenile courts.

Otherwise, suspects are considered victims rather than suspects,” another law expert said.

The father described his daughter who is in grade 9 as a brilliant student.

“I did not inform the school about the incident. I did not tell her brothers too. They believe that she went to stay with her aunt in Abu Dhabi for sometime,” the father said sobbing.

“The case of my daughter was referred to public prosecutors, who refused to bail her out despite the fact that we offered to keep more than 10 passports (as security) to bail her out,” the distressed father said.

The suspect was detained by the Ajman police on March 22 after being charged with adultery when she was caught meeting with her 25-year-old boyfriend on the roof top of the building her family lives in.

She was locked up for more than two weeks at the Ajman central jail with older women before being transferred to a juvenile centre in Sharjah.

The man involved in the case was arrested later at a bar in Dubai.

Defence lawyer Abdul Hamid Al Kumaiti said the girl will be tried later this month at an Ajman court on charges of adultery.

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