Dubai: An inmate, charged with assaulting, threatening and swearing at six prison guards, might be brought to court forcibly after he refused to appear at his hearing on Sunday.

Prosecutors have charged the 28-year-old inmate A.M. (who does not carry personal identification documents) with assaulting and cursing a number of jail wardens and officers at Dubai Central Prison.

He allegedly threatened some of them with a sharp tool while they were moving him from one ward to another.

When Presiding Judge Fahmi Mounir asked the jail guards at the Dubai Court of First Instance to bring in the suspect to level his charges against him, one of the guards replied: "Your Honour, the suspect A.M. has refused to attend the hearing. He refused to come."

Case adjourned

Presiding Judge Mounir said: "The court adjourns until March 24 and the suspect will be compulsorily forced to come to court [if needed]."

According to the arraignment sheet, A.M. is charged with assaulting a first lieutenant and two policemen while they were discharging their duties.

He was also charged with belittling and swearing at six officers and wardens and threatening to hurt them with a sharp tool if they moved him to another ward. He also threatened to kill himself

An Emirati first lieutenant testified that he received orders from his superior to move the suspect from ward one to three.

"I, along with 10 other officers and policemen, went to A.M.'s cell, tied him up with a plastic restraint and walked him out of the cell to move him to the new ward … Suddenly he untied it and returned to his cell after he pushed me. I chased him and when I reached the entrance of his cell, I spotted him standing with a knife-looking sharp tool in his hand. He called me bad names repeatedly… an hour later the anti-riot police arrived ...

"They restrained him after he threatened them and threatened to hang himself with a cloth which he tied to his neck," the first lieutenant said.

An Emirati police corporal (who was among the group of allegedly abused wardens) testified: "I heard him threatening and shouting ‘go out of the cell or I will hit you with the knife… I am ready to hit any of you'."