Abu Dhabi: Two men accused of using and promoting hashish in the capital told different stories when questioned at the Criminal Court of First Instance on Tuesday.

The Syrian defendant, F.A., confessed to using the illegal substance and had earlier told the Public Prosecution that the second defendant, A.H., had supplied him with the hashish.

However, A.H. denied all charges against him and stated that he had no knowledge of the results of his urine sample.

The second defendant’s lawyer told the court that A.H.’s confession at the Public Prosecution is false as his statements were taken by his arresting officers who were only responsible for taking A.H. into custody, and not questioning him.

“They acted out of their jurisdiction and took on the role of interrogator when all they were asked to do was arrest A.H. Additionally, my client’s confession should be quashed based on the fact that the Criminal Investigation Department officials threatened him if he withdrew his statements,” the defence lawyer said.

“Additionally, if my client’s confession was in fact true, and not stated out of fear, the urine sample results that were produced at the medical examiner’s office cannot be valid. This is due to the fact that my client was arrested on September 9, and he was tested 10 days later. This gives the drugs a sufficient amount of time to leave the system – and a high concentration of hashish could not have been found in his urine sample,” he added.

The defence team also told the court that A.H. was not faced with the ‘technical evidence’ against him during the Public Prosecutor’s hearing, and was only confronted with the first defendant’s allegations that A.H. was his hashish supplier.

Finally, the defence team told the court that police officers searched A.H.’s home and found no evidence of drug possession.

The defendant’s lawyer asked that his client be released due to the lack of evidence against him.

Present at the hearing was A.H.’s mother and sister who insisted that the first defendant was lying. A.H. requested that the judge be merciful with his verdict in light of his upcoming university graduation.

The case has been adjourned until October 29.