Dubai: A couple, who got married in Kyrgyzstan, is fighting for their acquittal in an adultery case after the wife’s fomer husband accused them of having sex out of wedlock in Dubai.
The Kazakh ex-husband and the Kyrgyz woman were said to have married in Dubai in 2007 and had two children before they got divorced in April 2015.
Shortly after that, the Kyrgyz woman left for her country where she got married to her current countryman husband and then the wife gave birth to a child in October 2015 in the United States.
Once the ex-husband discovered that his ex-wife had given birth to a child, according to records, he lodged a criminal case before Dubai prosecutors and accused the Kyrgyz couple of having indulged in out-of-wedlock sex while the woman was still his wife.
When the Kyrgyzstan-married couple was questioned by Dubai prosecutors, they presented a copy of their marriage contract from Kyrgyzstan and a birth certificate of their child, who was born in the United States.
They also denied the ex-husband’s claims that they had sex out of wedlock in Dubai.
Dubai prosecutors dismissed the ex-husband’s complaint and stopped legal action against the Kyrgyz couple. The Kazakh divorcee appealed that decision before prosecutors charged the duo of having consensual sex and referred them to the Dubai Misdemeanours Court.
In December, the court handed the married couple a one-year suspended imprisonment and ordered their deportation.
However, the married couple appealed the primary judgement before the Dubai Appeal Court.
The couple pleaded not guilty and argued before the Appeal Court that they had not been involved in any form of sexual interaction or activity in Dubai. Meanwhile, their lawyer Yousuf Al Beloushi of Bin Suwaidan Advocates and Legal Consultants asked presiding judge Adnan Al Farra to dismiss the case and acquit his clients.
In his verbal defence argument before the appellate court, lawyer Al Beloushi contended: “The primary court convicted my clients despite the fact that the case file lacked any substantiated or founded evidence. Prosecutors had earlier dropped the case against the suspects … but the ex-husband appealed that decision before they were referred to and convicted by the primary court. My clients were charged with having had unmarried sex … but they were and still are married.
"They did not have consensual sex herein and did not break the UAE laws. During the trial, my clients said they had sex in Oman and not in Dubai. Supposedly they had sex, that incident happened outside the UAE. That is why we ask the court to dismiss the case due to lack of criminal jurisdiction.”
Lawyer Al Beloushi further contended before the court that the ex-husband lodged his complaint out of malice.
Al Beloushi moreover asked the court to overturn his clients’ conviction and acquit them due to lack of jurisdiction.
“Prosecutors and the primary court failed to establish any form of materialistic evidence to prove that the Kyrgyz couple had sex in the UAE … that by itself is a crystal-clear proof that they did not commit any crime in the UAE. Besides the ex-husband’s allegations, the case file lacks any corroborated evidence that my clients had committed a crime in the UAE.
"On the other hand, the woman accused is a Muslim while her ex-husband is a non-Muslim and that by itself annuls their marriage since it defies the Sharia. This concludes that he [the claimant] does not have any legal stance to complain against my woman client … his testimony is also invalid and void. What should stand in court as a solid proof is my clients’ marriage certificate that they had obtained from Kyrgyzstan and have provided a copy of that contract to prosecutors and the court. They also provided a copy of their child’s American birth certificate to the court,” said Al Beloushi in the couple's defence.
Presiding judge Al Farra will hand out a judgement later this month.
