Couple gets reduced jail term after leniency plea
An Emirati housewife and a Pakistani electrician had their three-year imprisonment reduced to one year yesterday, after a court confirmed their guilt of forging their marriage contract.
Dubai: An Emirati housewife and a Pakistani electrician had their three-year imprisonment reduced to one year yesterday, after a court confirmed their guilt of forging their marriage contract.
The Dubai Appeals Court overturned the primary judgment after the 35-year-old housewife, M.N., and the 42-year-old electrician, S.D., pleaded not guilty and asked the jury for leniency.
"The jury has decided that it is enough for M.N. and S.D. to spend one year in jail," said Presiding Judge Mustafa Al Shennawi when he handed out Tuesday's verdict.
The duo had earlier appealed the judgment of the Dubai Court of First Instance which convicted the Emirati (of Indian origin) and the Pakistani guilty of forging their marriage contract in Pakistan and violating the Islamic Sharia, which prohibits a woman from having two husbands simultaneously.
Presiding Judge Al Shennawi said the Pakistani will be deported after serving his punishment. The convicts, who were on bail, will have to turn themselves in to serve their imprisonment, although yesterday's judgment is still subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 30 days.
Prosecutors charged M. N. with polyandry and charged both of them for forging their marriage contract. They were also charged with adultery. Records show the convicts forged the marriage contract to have it approved by the UAE's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The woman's Emirati husband, H.G., testified: "We got married in 1985 and have children. ... she left two or three years ago. She used to come and take the children out occasionally."
