Dubai: Five inmates, who are serving life imprisonment for their abetment in the infamous case of deliberate arson at Bur Dubai police station in 2001, were denied pardon on Wednesday.
Several defendants, who were detained in Bur Dubai police station in October 2001, were 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 the fire.
Five inmates — three Emiratis, an Omani and a fifth person, who doesn’t have personal identification papers, lodged a special plea before the Dubai Court of First Instance seeking an early release as they have served 15 years of the life imprisonment.
On Wednesday, presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi rejected the petitioners’ pleas and ordered that they remain serving their punishment in the Dubai Central Jail.
In April 2003, the Court of First Instance jailed the five petitioners for life and ordered that they share the cost of Dh210,000 to fix the damaged sections of the police station.
The Courts of Appeal and Cassation later upheld the primary court judgement.
In July this year, the petitioners completed 15 years of their life terms each and filed their plea for pardon and early release.
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.
One of the petitioners told the court in an earlier hearing: “We are seeking an early release. God knows what we have learnt during the time we have spent behind bars. We have spent almost 16 years behind bars and that is not an easy thing. We 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 behaviour.”
The inmate further said: “We are sorry for the victims who perished 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 abetting the main culprits who had been involved in this case.”
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.
Records said the main 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.
