Dubai: A Dubai court has issued an irrevocable four-year jail term against a former international adviser with the Poppy Elimination Programme in Afghanistan for possessing 0.6 grammes of hashish for personal use.
The Court of Cassation, which is the highest court in Dubai, found the Canadian national, Herbert William Tatham, guilty of smuggling and possessing hashish and two poppy seeds for personal use besides consuming hashish, as charged by the Public Prosecution.
The Cassation Court confirmed the appeals and initial verdicts - four years in jail. He will be deported after serving his term.
Afghan campaign
Tatham who formerly served as a consultant with the UN's Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) denied the charges and pleaded innocent.
His lawyer told the court: "My client was an anti-narcotics officer. During his one-hour transit visit from Kandahar where he was on an anti-narcotics campaign, he was caught at Dubai International Airport carrying the poppy seeds, which he was taking to Canada for experiments."
The defence lawyer said as part of the campaign, the accused collected tonnes of drugs a day and burnt them. "His trousers must have mistakenly picked up the tiny quantity of hashish," said the lawyer.
The lawyer said his client was "illegally questioned in the absence of a legal translator".
"It was natural that he tested positive for hashish which appeared in his urine test because of the effects of passive smoking as he burnt about 10 tonnes of the narcotic a day," argued the lawyer.
The lawyer handed the court a commendation letter issued by the Canadian Secretary of State for Tatham's dedication and service to the Poppy Elimination Programme in Kandahar and other activities.
