UK women get life in UAE
2001-05-20 12:42
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.