Dubai A convict, who started a deliberate fire inside the prison cell where he is serving a 15-year imprisonment for raping a teenage boy in 2007, has been jailed for three months.
The 43-year-old Emirati convict, A.K., risked the lives of other prisoners when he started a fire inside Dubai Central Jail’s solitary confinement section in November.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted A.K. of arson and risking the lives of other prisoners.
The Aids-infected convict, A.K., had denied the accusation and entered an innocent plea.
“The fire expert stated that I started the fire with matchsticks. This is impossible and illogical … the search measurements are so tight that we cannot even bring in a lighter into the jail. I want to hear his statement,” the defendant argued before presiding judge Mohammad Jamal.
Prosecutors said A.K. used matchsticks to set a piece of cloth on fire and endangered other prisoners’ lives.
The 43-year-old contended: “There were other prisoners in the confinement … I was not alone in the section. I did not start the fire. Why would I ruin what our shaikhs are building in the country?”
A police major testified that the incident happened when the fire alarm system was set off at the solitary confinement section at A.K.’s cell at 6.30pm.
“When I arrived at the defendant’s cell, I saw him smoking a cigarette. There was a white piece of cloth burning beside him at the cell’s entrance. One of the jail wardens immediately put out the fire with his foot … it was a small fire. When asked why he started the fire, A.K. claimed that he was irritated and needed to capture the prison management’s attention to attend to his personal requests,” the major claimed.
Court records said A.K. is currently serving a 15-year jail term for raping a French teenager at knifepoint in a desert area in Al Barsha in 2007.
Sunday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
