DUBAI, 29 September 2006 — Imprisoned on charges relating to anything from drugs to embezzlement, Dubai’s prisons have become populated with Saudi men caught on the wrong side of the law. Many claim that they have been framed, others say there has been a misunderstanding. But all of them are desperate to return to the Kingdom.
Al-Riyadh newspaper recently met 23 Saudis imprisoned in Dubai after obtaining permission from Dubai police chief Lt. Gen. Dahi ibn Khalfan. Behind their dry smiles we saw pain and anxiety as these men, some of whom claim to be innocent, wait for their sentences to pass and be released. Others admit wrongdoing and express regret at what they have done. Most of the prisoners are below the age of 40 and some are married with children.
Abdullah, 30, a Saudi businessman, has been in prison for three years after being sentenced to life in 2003 for possessing alcohol and drugs. “I came to Dubai for business. I met someone on the street who offered me some pills on the street and while I was walking away we both ended up being arrested and sentenced to life. No one believed me when I explained what had really happened,” he said.
Another Saudi businessman in jail is Haroon. He is 39 years old. Haroon is in the camel business and was sentenced to nine months and fined 1,000 dirhams for writing bad checks. “I didn’t write any bad checks, basically I lost my checkbook during a camel race a few days before I was arrested,” said Haroon, adding that he’s been attending camel races for the last 18 years.
“I had signed checks in my checkbook when I lost it and that has what has been my undoing. I know that the law does not protect the ignorant. I cannot prove that I am innocent,” he said.
Muhammad, 36, an employee at the Imam Muhammad ibn Saudi University, was arrested in 2005 for handling a shipment of stolen cell phones and for avoiding paying a debt of 30,000 dirhams. “I was being paid by a Saudi businessman to transport cell phones between Saudi Arabia and the UAE. I was just doing the running around; I had no idea that the cell phones were stolen. When the Dubai police arrested me, the businessman I was working for disappeared and I ended up taking all the slack,” said Muhammad.
He was sentenced to three months in prison and was told to pay three million dirhams in fine to the authorities. “I have completed my sentence, but I can’t leave until I pay the fine. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I just don’t have any money,” said Muhammad.
Another Saudi, sentenced to life in prison, is Tahsin, 36. He is in jail on a drug-related conviction. Tahsin is a father of seven children. “I request the Saudi authorities to help me and give me another chance in life. I’ve spent more than 10 years in prison and I want to go back to my family. There have been other prisoners on similar charges who were pardoned after their governments interfered,” said Tahsin.
The strangest case that Al-Riyadh reporters came across was that of two brothers, Abdullah, 22, and Mahmood, 18, from Dammam. The brothers look innocent and much younger than their real age. “Basically, I had some spare cash that I wanted to invest and so I came to the UAE with my brother to buy stocks and make some profit. I wanted to buy stocks in Dana Gas and saved three years of my salary just to make an investment,” said Abdullah, who is a computer engineer.
After arriving in Dubai, the two brothers spent a night in a hotel. “I was sleeping when I woke up after hearing shouting outside and came out of my room to find police arresting Mahmood for having drugs,” said Abdullah.
“The drugs were not mine. One of the hotel workers asked me to try some drugs out when they learned we had some money with us. It was then that the police came and arrested me. I didn’t even try anything,” said Mahmood.
The police promptly arrested Mahmood and as he was being taken away, Abdullah volunteered to accompany him because he thought Mahmood was not mentally ready for such an ordeal.
Following a police investigation including an analysis of Mahmood’s blood sample, the 18-year-old was sentenced to eight months in prison.
Many of the prisoners held in Dubai were concerned that Saudi Arabia had forgotten their plight. However, the Saudi consul in Dubai stressed that the Saudi Consulate in Dubai was closely following the condition of their nationals in Dubai prisons. Saudi Consul Homoud ibn Farraz said: “Some of the Saudi youth put themselves in trouble with their wrongdoing and think that the Saudi Consulate has the power and the ability to release them. This is impossible and the consulate cannot break the local laws.”
