Dubai: A court on Sunday overturned an imam's three-year prison sentence by acquitting him of the charges of molesting an eight-year-old school boy in a mosque.
The imam was acquitted by the court after his lawyer claimed police had coerced his confession.
The Dubai Appeal Court threw out the primary sentence of three years in jail followed by deportation, and acquitted the 26-year-old Indian imam, ZH, of sexually molesting the American boy while teaching him the Quran in a private room inside the mosque.
Beatings
ZH's lawyer, Haroun Tahlak, told the appeals court: "My client did not sexually abuse or molest the boy. From the beginning ZH denied the boy's claims that he molested him. When police arrested him, eight police officers beat him with their hands, legs and a stick ... They assaulted him and coerced him to confess a crime he did not commit."
In May, the Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced the imam to three years in jail for molesting the eight-year-old boy while teaching him the Quran. ZH pleaded not guilty and told the court: "This is unfair. I am innocent, I didn't commit any crime."
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Tahlak defended: "The prosecutor, who questioned my client, noticed that he had bruises and injuries on his chest, shoulder and back after he was allegedly beaten by the policemen".
"A forensic doctor who examined ZH mentioned the bruises and injuries in his medical report… but prosecution didn't pursue our complaint."
The advocate argued before the court that the boy claimed that he was molested, because he didn't want to learn the Quran.
Tahlak said: "The boy and his brother were fed up because ZH was strict in teaching them the Quran".
"Besides, the father's claims were unfounded and baseless," Tahlak said.
"The boy's statement [before prosecutors] was inconsistent. Police questioned my client in the absence of a legal translator. ZH is 26 years old and he didn't have any criminal intentions. What really happened is that he gave him a peck on the cheek, in a rewarding manner, like any teacher who encourages his students. He didn't have any intention to molest the claimant."
