Two Central Jail prisoners set fire in their cells using the mattress, a battery and aluminum paper protesting against the jail’s administration in separate cases heard by the Dubai Criminal Court.
 
In the First case, at 1.30pm on March 14, SYO, 27, Emirati, asked a policeman to inform the head of the Follow-Up section about his will to meet him.

The policeman, Hassan Ali, 26, notified the section head First Lt Hamad Rashid Al Marri about the prisoner’s wish and the latter said he will come later to see the prisoner being busy at the moment.

The prisoner got angry when he heard the reply and warned that he would burn the cell should he did not come, Hassan testified before the prosecution.

Hassan tried to calm him down… but it seems in vain. So he directed the control camera to his cell.

“I saw him cutting the mattress into pieces and then he brought a battery of the shaving machine and a piece of aluminum paper (of the cigarette box) to function as electricity conductor. He waited until the aluminum paper glowed, and with it he burnt the sponge pieces… So I rushed with the fire extinguisher to his cell and put off the fire. SYO told me that he will set the cell on fire again because he was not and answered and his needs were never met,” Hassan testified.

SYO repeated the drama and burnt the cell… this time I did not extinguish the fire but rather informed the peration room who in five minutes came and put out the fire. SYO was assisted by his brother who is also a prisoner as he suffered from smoke suffocation and was rushed to the central jail clinic.

The damages were estimated at Dh75.

The court adjourned the case until next month.

Meanwhile, RMH, 27, also Emirati, not only set fire to the mattress but also punched a policeman and abused him, the police officers and the Police Force using “f” words, the Dubai Criminal Court hear, in a separate case.

RMH was kept in an individual cell and there was a problem in the cell next to his. While the policeman and his colleagues were controlling the problem, RMS abused the policeman Saeed Baqer.

“For no reason he abused me and my colleagues. And all of a sudden we saw smoke blowing from his cell so we rushed and put off the fire. And when I asked him why he did that he replied saying: It is my wish to burn your properties," Baqer said adding that the accused used a battery and a piece of aluminum of a ciggerette box to set the fire.

“The accused took advantage of me being busy putting off the fire and punched my chest and head and abused me, the police officers and the police using “f” word,” Baqer testified.

Mohammed Abdullah, policeman, 24, repeated the same testimony.

RMH denied the accusation and claimed that he mistakenly caused the fire as he was smoking a cigarette with which he could have touched the mattress unattentively.

He also denied abuse accusation and claimed that he did not abuse any specific person but expressed frustration of ill treatment in general saying: “you animals... dogs… you are inhuman and do not have passion… you do not justify your salaries…you leave to your homes and then you say the man committed suicide.”

The Court adjourned the case until next month.