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UK women get life in UAE

2001-05-20 12:42

Ghaida Ghantous

Ras al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates - A United Arab Emirates court on Sunday sentenced two British women to life in prison for using and trading in drugs.

A British man, Daniel Maalouf, was given a 10-year jail sentence for "intending to trade in drugs".

The women, identified as Anna Kidd and Anna Bartlett, were also fined 50 000 dirhams each ($13 623) by the Islamic sharia court in the northern emirate of Ras al-Khaimah, where they were standing trial alongside two other Britons and an Australian.

A life term in UAE sharia courts is equivalent to 25 years in jail. Mohammed al-Kamali, the women's lawyer, said he would appeal the sentences.

"They are lucky they did not get the death penalty," he told Reuters after the trial. "If they show good behaviour and perform community service, the could only get 10 years."

The remaining three accused - two British women and an Australian woman - will be sentenced by a court in the neighbouring emirate of Dubai, where all six accused will be put on trial for a second time on the same charges. It was not immediately clear when the new trial would start.

The British embassy identified the two women who were not sentenced as Katherine Jenkins from North Wales and Stacy Simpson of Leeds. The Australian was named as Heidi Deboer, a 24-year-old from Queensland.

All six were arrested in October and November in Ras al-Khaimah and Dubai. They were charged with possession and use of narcotics and smuggling hashish and cocaine to the UAE, where drug trafficking carries a possible death sentence.

Wearing face veils and head-to-toe black gowns, the five women huddled together as the judges delivered the verdict to a courtroom that included some family members.

Envoys from the British and Australian embassy refused to comment on the verdict. Relatives crowding around the diplomats also shoved away reporters.

Only Maalouf and Bartlett have admitted to some of the charges, while the rest have pleaded innocent.

Maalouf, from London, has admitted to using hashish, while Bartlett, from Southend-on-Sea, has confessed to bringing in cocaine and hashish. Kamali said Bartlett and Kidd were also found with capsules of pure cocaine while in detention.

- Reuters

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