Dubai philanthropist pays air ticket fees to send 614 inmates home
Donation came as part of a partnership with Emarat Al Youm and Dubai Police
Dubai: Over 600 inmates at Dubai Central Jail will be returned to their home countries after serving their jail terms, thanks to a generous donation by an Emirati philanthropist, an official told Gulf News.
Brigadier Ali Al Shammali, Director of the General Department of Punitive and Correctional Institutions at Dubai Police, said the inmates of various nationalities will get tickets to fly to their home countries as part of an initiative between Dubai Police and Arabic newspaper ‘Emarat Al Youm’.
“As part of our partnership with ‘Emarat Al Youm’ to help inmates who don’t have the ability to buy tickets to return to their homes after serving their jail term, a philanthropist donated money to buy tickets for 613 inmates,” Brig Al Shammali told Gulf News.
“We made a list of the inmates and will check which countries opened their airports to buy the tickets and let them fly soon to their countries.”
The inmates include; 367 of Asian origin, 187 Africans, 48 from Arab countries and nine from Europe.
Brig Al Shammali said that most of the inmates had financial cases, violations and other types of cases.
He said some Arab countries had already opened their airports, as well as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
“I want to thank the philanthropist for his generous donation in easing the return of the inmates and reunite them with their families and loved ones. The inmates were happy when they heard the news as they couldn’t afford to return to their countries in these exceptional times,” Brig Al Shammali added.
The Humanitarian committee in Dubai Central Jail in Al Awir will process the return of the inmates in the coming days.