Dubai: Five inmates, who are serving a life imprisonment for their abetment in the infamous case of the deliberate arson and destruction of Bur Dubai police station in 2001, are seeking pardon.

Several defendants, who were detained in Bur Dubai police station in October 2001, were later convicted by the Dubai Court of First Instance and handed life imprisonment, varied jail terms, fined and ordered to pay Dh2.1 million in blood money to the parents of the 14 prisoners who perished during that fire.

On Wednesday, five inmates — three Emiratis, an Omani and the fifth person who doesn’t have personal identification papers — appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance with a special plea seeking an early release as they have served 15 years of the life imprisonment.

In April 2003, the Court of First Instance jailed the five petitioners for life and ordered that they share the cost of Dh209,830 to fix the damaged sections of the police station.

The judgement was later upheld by the Courts of Appeal and Cassation.

In July this year, the petitioners completed 15 years of their life terms each and filed their plea for pardon and early release.

“I have only received two petitions and the bench of judges will look into the case file and review the other three petitions. Have you repented about what you did?” presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi asked the petitioners on Wednesday.

Speaking on behalf of the five petitioners, one of them told judge Al Shamsi: “Your honour, we are here to seek an early release. God knows what have we learnt during the time we have spent behind bars. We have spent almost 16 years … this is not an easy thing that had happened. We have learnt a lot and got disciplined. We also memorised the Quran and we underwent several educational and training programmes to be good individuals and to develop our behaviours.”

“And do you ever remember that you had caused those deaths and feel repentant for that?” the judge Al Shamsi asked.

The five inmates nodded their heads positively and in approval one at a time as they responded to the question.

“Your honour, we surely do and we are sorry for those souls as much as we are sorry for what has also happened back then and to us. We did not kill those victims but we were convicted of aiding and abetting the main culprits who had been involved in this infamous case,” said the same inmate.

The petitioners based their petitions on article 1/45 of the Federal Law No. 43 of 1992, concerning regulating punitive and correctional establishments. The law stipulates that a convict who has completed 15 years of a life sentence is entitled to file a special petition to be released from jail.

Prosecutors asked the court to reject the petitioners’ plea because they have committed a “gruesome crime” and have a diabolical attitude that poses a menace to the society.

Court reports said the culprits started the fire by igniting a foam mattress in a juvenile cell with a cigarette lighter. All the victims were inmates of the cell. They suffered carbon monoxide poisoning. The October 2001 incident started with a blaze in the sixth cell, which housed prisoners in drug-related cases. They were presumably plotting an escape. Fifteen people were injured as well.

The court’s decision will be heard on November 29.