Dubai: A prisoner lost his appeal and will be jailed for three years for digging a hole in the wall of his prison cell and crawling his way out through the sewage tunnels.
In April, the Dubai Court of First Instance jailed the 36-year-old Iraqi prisoner and his three Iranian cellmates, for three years for digging the hole, sneaking into the sewage tunnels and using a makeshift ladder to escape from jail.
The four defendants took turns to dig a hole with an iron bar before sneaking out of their cell into the sewage tunnels of Dubai Central Jail in July last year.
Then they used a makeshift ladder that they had made earlier from iron pipes and clothes to reach the emergency exit door located outside the jail.
Using a copied key, the four opened the door, used the ladder to climb up the wall, and escaped into the desert. They were also convicted of causing damages worth Dh16,750 to the facilities at the jail.
Dubai police chased down the quartet and arrested them in desert shortly after their escape.
The Iraqi convict appealed his three-year imprisonment before the Appeal Court and sought to have his jail terms reduced.
Presiding judge Eisa Al Sharif rejected his appeal and upheld the primary judgement.
The accused will be deported following the completion of his punishment.
The quartet had pleaded guilty when they appeared before the primary court.
Meanwhile the Iraqi convict renewed his guilty plea before the appellate court and sought to have his punishment reduced.
A police lieutenant said the jail breakout was discovered at around 2am.
Another lieutenant testified that the quartet were apprehended shortly after their escape in an open area in the desert.
“During questioning, they confessed that they tried to escape from the prison and that they had been involved in similar cases earlier,” the lieutenant said.
The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 26 days.
