UAE | Crime
Dallas Austin may be pardoned, feel lawyers
A cross-section of lawyers has said that a special pardon is a ruling based on humanitarian considerations and is not limited to celebrities.
- By Bassam Za'za', Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 June 30, 2006
Dubai: A cross-section of lawyers has said that a special pardon is a ruling based on humanitarian considerations and is not limited to celebrities.
The issue of special pardons surfaced when lawyers of American hip-hop producer Dallas Austin approached the Ruler's Court for a pardon.
The 34-year-old celebrity was arrested on May 19 at Dubai International Airport for carrying and possessing cocaine. He will appear in court next week.
"A special pardon is not reserved for celebrities but a matter of humane considerations, such as in the instances when a Ruler issues a group pardon on special occasion or religious festivals or due to special charitable grounds," said lawyer Khalifa Al Salman of Al Sha'ali and Co Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The special pardon in Dallas's or any other case falls under the Ruler's power and authority.
"A Ruler's pardon exempts a defendant from the punishment but does not change the fact of being guilty and breaching the criminal law," Al Salman, who is a former judge, told Gulf News.
Al Salman, who served as a judge for eight years, said a Ruler orders that a defendant be pardoned from serving prison term. "But the defendant is not exempted from being deported in the nation's best interest," he said.
"In Dallas's case we refer to him as 'a patient' and not as 'a criminal' especially that it's a case of possessing drugs for personal use and not for peddling. His act is considered as a crime against himself. If he had been involved in peddling drugs he will not be granted a pardon since such crimes affect the society," said Al Salman.
The Ruler helps "a patient" by pardoning him from serving his term, but still the defendant will get deported, he said.
Abdul Hamid Al Kumity of Al Kumity Advocates and Legal Consultants said: "The Ruler enjoys an ultimate discretionary power and has the right to pardon a criminal whose crime inflicts damage only upon himself. The pardon exempts the criminal from the punishment, but not from the crime itself."
Influenced
The special treatment is influenced by the celebrity status, said the lawyer who said one of his clients, an editor-in-chief, once was pardoned from serving a six-month-jail-term in a libel case.
"The main point to be considered in Dallas's case is that he is both a defendant and a victim, simultaneously. The act he committed limits the danger on himself and not the society. This is why he is treated as 'a patient' and pardoned," said Al Kumity.
Nasser Malalla of Nasser Malalla Advocates and Legal Consultants said a special pardon is usually granted following a court's verdict to give the defendant a chance to defend himself and prove his innocence to "maintain a clear record".
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