Dubai: Two female convicts at Dubai Central Jail have received additional jail terms of a month each after being found to be in a consensual lesbian relationship.
The 28-year-old Romanian and 36-year-old Filipino are in prison after being found guilty in drugs cases.
In 2011, the Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced the Romanian to seven years in jail and fined her Dh50,000 followed by deportation on different drug-related charges.
The Filipina is serving a one-year jail term on a drugs charge.
In the latest instance, the two defendants entered a not guilty plea before the Dubai Misdemeanours Court.
During Wednesday’s hearing, the Romanian approached the bench and tried to submit a written defence, which the presiding judge refused to accept. He said the ruling had already been pronounced and she should have submitted her defence earlier. She was advised to present her defence before the Appeal Court.
Dubai prosecutors had charged the defendants with having a consensual lesbian relationship and indulging in acts of public indecency.
Sources told Gulf News that female prisoners spotted the couple in a sexually-intimate position in females’ section at Dubai Central Jail in November. The defendants were believed to be partly undressed. Other prisoners reported them to a jail warden.
“Some prisoners alleged that the couple were seen hugging, kissing and interacting indecently. The jail warden informed her supervisors. Then the defendants were referred to Al Hibab Police Station for further investigations, during which they pleaded not guilty and denied acting as a lesbian couple,” a source told the newspaper.
The defendants will be deported following completion of their sentences.
The primary ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
