By Bassam Zaza, Senior Reporter
The highest court in Dubai on Monday confirmed the 15-year jail term handed to two Emirati men who kidnapped a 15-year-old French boy and had sex with him against his will.
The Dubai Court of Cassation turned down the two men's appeal for leniency and upheld the ruling.
The case now moves to Dubai Civil Court which will be looking into the victim's Dh15 million compensation claim.
During Monday morning's hearing, the Cassation Court confirmed I.M., 18, and A.K., 35, were guilty of kidnapping the 15-year-old French boy, A.R., and having sex with him against his will in a desert area in Al Barsha.
A.K's reports confirmed he had Aids and Hepatitis. Earlier this year, the victim's medical reports confirmed that he had not contracted either disease.
The Public Prosecution charged I.M. and A.K. and their compatriot, I.S., 17, with deception and kidnapping the boy and his compatriot, F.K., 16.
They were charged with forcefully undressing A.R., threatening him with a knife before having sex with him, while F.K. was kept outside the vehicle.
A.K was solely charged with threatening to kill the victim with a stick.
The Dubai Court of Appeal recently sentenced I.S. to three years in jail after he was found guilty as charged.
Records said the trio picked the boys up from a mall. A.R. testified one of the defendants snatched his cell phone from him when he dialled 999 shortly before he was forced to have sex with them.
"A.K. who carried a billiard stick and I.S. who carried a pocket knife asked me to step down from the car, but I refused. They switched off our phones and took them away. I.S. threatened to rape my mother, burn my parents and our house meanwhile I.K. pulled my friend out of the car powerfully."
The victim stated that he was beaten, forced to remove his clothes before the defendants sodomized him successively.
"One of them even forced me to have oral sex with him," he added.
F.K. confirmed the victim's testimony and said: "When I returned to the vehicle, my friend looked petrified and quivering. I saw him carrying his underwear in a small bag. The suspects dropped us off at Jumeirah and the victim, who was crying angrily, told me what happened in the cab."
The UAE has a firm standpoint against crimes of a sexual nature, said a top lawyer in light of the final ruling of the French boy's sodomy case which was given on Monday.
"Yesterday's irrevocable verdict [15 years imprisonment] shows that the UAE has a firm standpoint on crimes of rape and sexual violence and that we do not tolerate such crimes irrespective of the nationalities of the individuals involved in the crime," Dr Habib Al Mulla, of Dr Habib Al Mulla and Co, Advocates and Legal Consultants, told Gulf News.
Commenting on the ruling, Dr Al Mulla who is the Dubai Government spokesperson in this case, said: "The verdict reconfirms our position that we have been putting forward from the beginning of this case that we need to let the system work. This judgement proves beyond any doubt that the UAE in general, and Dubai in particular, enjoys an efficient, reliable and trustworthy judicial system which is capable of dealing with issues of this nature."
Dr Al Mulla expressed his gratitude that the judgment "has put an end to this saga that should not have existed from the beginning."
He stressed that the UAE's judicial system is independent and treats all parties equally before the law.
In an earlier statement Dubai's Attorney General Essam Eisa Al Humaidan said: "Our role is to enforce the penal code and prosecute criminals who commit such terribly awful crimes which are considerably strange to our society. We ordinarily ask the court to apply the stiffest punishment applicable to combat all sorts of crimes and criminals. The judicial system works to protect the interests of all the UAE population including expatriates and locals."
Original article found here.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
Is it just me, or is anyone else here skeptical? I just don't believe these guys are going to serve a full 15 year sentence - not when their families can buy their way out of it. I think this is all for show.
Well, I think the bad publicity is what made them follow through on this verdict. Whether or not it will stick likely has more to do w/ wasta.
We will likely never know for sure, but the upholding of the verdicts is a step in the right direction... due to external pressures... the victim being a Westerner was likely the major reason (we would have never heard about it if he had been Pakistani or Indian). Also the fact that the older perpetrator has AIDS.
I think one of the reasons they were punished is because the victim's mother really fought hard for her son. This woman flew in from France, to a foreign country and went to court every day and fought to have those rapists punished. Very admirable.
Absolutely, Dottson. I was so emotionally affected by how she stood by her son on American TV and told him how proud she was that he didn't stay silent, that she loved him and thought the world of him. I wondered how many times this had happened to Arab kids living in the UAE, and how the tradition of shame would silence most.
I just don't understand how someone infected with AIDS and hepatitis could knowingly force himself on another human being. What is wrong with these people? I think instead of 15 years, he should just be executed. We don't need scum like that living amongst us - ever.
Makes you think the charge should have been attempted murder. I think they might have been angling at this originally. THank goodness that boy has tested negative for HIV. Let's hope it stays that way.
Post a Comment