Dubai: A prisoner serving a life term died in jail earlier this week less than two years after starting his sentence, a police source told Gulf News.

The 30-year-old Tunisian prisoner who had been sentenced by the Dubai Courts for drug smuggling died at Al Aweer central jail in the early hours of Saturday.

Some other prisoners told Gulf News that Fatihi suffered a heart attack at the time of morning prayers on Saturday and died at around 6.30am at the jail clinic. The prisoners said Fatihi had complained of chest pains and started sweating profusely.

"Fatihi asked for help from his jailers at around 5am but it takes time to take him to the clinic as this needs legal process," said a prisoner.

The prisoner claimed that Fatihi was taken to the jail clinic about an hour later.

"We held Fatihi in a blanket, his body was very cold. We took him to the clinic. He suffered severe chest pains," said the prisoner.

"After morning prayers we came to know that Fatihi died," said a prisoner.

Claim of innocence

A few days before his death, Fatihi had spoken to Gulf News from his jail cell. He said he had been given a life term for a drug case in which he was not involved. He said he was arrested while coming from Oman to Dubai in a car with a person who was bringing in 40 grammes of hashish.

He said the other person planned to pass on the narcotics to someone in Dubai unaware that the intended recipient was an undercover police officer.

Fatihi also said at the time that he had come to work in Dubai three years ago to support his poor family back home. He said he regretted what had happened but insisted it was not his fault.

He said he had been arrested 20 months ago after being accused of smuggling 40 grammes of hashish, worth approximately Dh3,000, from Oman to the UAE.

Fatihi had said he felt lonely with no family members or acquaintances to visit him or comfort him and expressed a wish to be allowed to spend the rest of his jail term in his country so that he could be near his family.

He said he had set out to work for an air-conditioner maintenance firm in Dubai but the company had never issued him a residence visa and that he used to frequently cross the border for visa changes.

Fatihi had indicated that his family back home had no idea that he was in jail and that he was involved in a drug case.

He said he had spent all his time in jail without ever being able to contact his mother or his family.