Dubai: A Dubai central jail inmate committed suicide in solitary confinement, police told Gulf News.
The inmate was receiving treatment for drug addiction while he served a four-year sentence for drug abuse.
A police official said the Emirati prisoner strangled himself in his cell in the early hours of Friday.
A.Z.S, a 27-year-old unmarried Emirati from Sharjah, was found by guards while on their rounds at the door of his cell at around 4am.
A few days before his death A.Z.S who was detained at ward C-1, had threatened to set fire to the cell and asked his jailers to move him to solitary confinement.
Police said A.Z.S was moved to solitary confinement four days before he committed suicide. While in solitary confinement, A.Z.S set fire to his cell. Police said this was A.Z.S's first jail term. His body had been taken to the forensic laboratory for investigation, police said.
Prisoners speaking to the Gulf News on condition of anonymity said they first learned of the man's death when they saw men who were not wearing police uniforms entering the prisoner's cell. "When we asked what was going on we came to know that A.Z.S had committed suicide," a prisoner said.
On October 22 last year an inmate identified as Kh.M. committed suicide in solitary confinement. The inmate was serving a one-year sentence for drug abuse. He had threatened to kill himself if he was not released from solitary where he was placed for not wearing his prison uniform.
Also last year, another inmate who was serving life sentence at Dubai central jail committed suicide. The Omani prisoner was convicted of drug abuse.
