UAE death sentence for drug dealing Briton and Syrian will be appealed

The death sentence passed by a UAE court on a 21-year-old British man and a Syrian, 19, for selling 1,500 AED ($408) of cannabis to an undercover cop is likely to be overturned, daily newspaper The National reported on Wednesday, citing experts.

Drug dealing is one of the crimes still punishable by death under federal law in the UAE. The others include murder, rape and terrorism.

But experts told The National that in the last five years in each case where a lower court passed a death sentence for drugs crimes, higher courts overturned the penalty.

An investigation carried out by the paper in 2010 revealed that all death sentences issued since 2007 for drug offences were later overturned after procedural errors were found.

‘The Court of Cassation reviewed many death penalties issued by lower courts to defendants convicted of drug trafficking, but the court has not upheld a single case,’ an official at the judicial department told the paper.

Chief Justice Ahmed Ibrahim Saif told the paper there were strict procedures surrounding the death penalty and that all cases where the sentence had been passed must go to appeal.

Even after a case had passed through all levels of court and where the defendant had admitted the crime – “an execution still requires the signature of the President or the Ruler of the emirate,” he added.

In this latest case, two other men received lesser sentences for using cannabis. A Sudanese man was sentenced to a year in jail and deportation and a 17-year-old Emirati was sent for rehabilitation.

The British man’s lawyer told the paper they would appeal the verdict. He said it was unusual for a drug dealer to receive a death sentence when not selling large amounts.