Dubai: A prisoner is seeking an early release after having spent 15 years of his life imprisonment that he was handed for murdering a prostitute after an argument over her sex fees in 2002.

In January 2002, the Indian prisoner, who was 37 then, picked up the Uzbek woman in his car and went to have sex with her but when they argued over her fees, he smothered her and hit her in the back of her head with a hard object.

The man threw her body behind Al Wasl Football Club and drove off after he stole her mobile phone.

In 2002, the Dubai Court of First Instance jailed the accused for life for premeditatedly killing the Uzbek woman by asphyxiating her and throwing her body in Al Jadaf area. He was also convicted of stealing her mobile phone and having sex with the woman before murdering her.

The life sentence was later upheld by the Courts of Appeal and Cassation respectively.

The defendant, now 52, lodged a petition before the Dubai Court of First Instance seeking an early release after having spent 15 years behind bars. The petitioner lodged his petition on grounds of excellent behaviour and repentance for his crime.

During Monday’s hearing, the accused told the presiding judge that he has changed and repented what he had done and asked for a pardon and an early release.

Records said the Indian convict based his petition 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 out of a life sentence (25 years) is entitled to file a special petition to be released from jail.

The petitioner obtained a good behaviour certificate, according to records, and a recommendation for his release issued by the management of Dubai Central Jail.

Records said the accused had paid the victim for sex thrice before he killed her.

Dubai police’s forensic examiner confirmed that the defendant had suffocated the Uzbek woman with his hands and hit with a hard object in the back of her head.

A ruling in the case will be announced on April 27.