Abu Dhabi: Ten Asian youths are facing execution for intentional manslaughter after a gambling and drinking session turned into a bid for revenge, the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance revealed in a statement.
Five male labourers of Asian nationalities, sat with five others of a different Asian origin and gambled over a game of cards and drank alcohol until one side decided to deceive the other, officials said.
The cheating attempt led to a drunken fist fight between the two parties which then developed into a racist conflict where each member sided with his own group.
The men used chairs and any other tools within their reach to inflict as much pain on the other side as possible.
The dispute ended with the instigators losing — but the winners decided to exact revenge for the slight.
The triumphant team called on five other men who were living in Sharjah to execute an act of revenge on the other team members for hurting their national pride.
Equipped with knives, ropes and other weapons, the 10 men marched towards one of the opposing group’s place of residence at a workers’ residence, at a time when he was guaranteed to be asleep.
They then proceeded to gag the victim, tie him up and place a black bag over his head, only to attack him with their knives and hands which led to his death at the scene.
The noise, caused by the violence, woke some of the men residing with the victim in the residence, who then called the police leading to the capture of the accused, red-handed.
The defendants confessed to their crime and said that they had only done it with the intention of teaching the victim a lesson, and not with the aim of killing him.
However, the general prosecution was not convinced of this explanation given the extent of the beatings and the dangerous objects used.
Instead, the men were charged with premeditated, intentional man slaughter and are now on death row waiting for execution.
This article is published in cooperation with the Abu Dhabi judicial department for public awareness.
