Dubai A college student has been jailed for four years for smoking a hashish-stuffed cigarette on New Year’s Eve.
Drug enforcement officers caught the 22-year-old Hungarian student, S.E., for consuming hashish in January.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted S.E. of consuming drugs despite having his pleaded not guilty and contending that he did not know that what he smoked was hashish.
The defendant’s lawyer had argued in court that his client was attending a New Year’s party with friends when his woman friend, identified as S., offered him a cigarette.
“He smoked it not knowing that it was stuffed with hashish … he did not have any criminal intention,” S.E.’s lawyer told the court.
Presiding judge Urfan Omar said the accused will be deported following the completion of his jail term.
Law enforcement procedures were carried out improperly and unlawfully against the defendant, his lawyer contended in court.
“Drug officers obtained a prosecutor’s warrant to search my client’s house and car and arrest him. The warrant did not mention what drug he had consumed or possessed. How come the drug enforcement officers claim that they monitored S.E. and ensured that he possessed and consumed drugs in his car and house and when they searched, they didn’t find anything? My client does not even own a car. This proves that the law enforcement procedures were void and were carried out illegally,” he defended.
The lawyer said his client’s statement during police questioning should be voided due to the absence of a translator.
“My client was partying with friends in a desert area on New Year’s Eve and it was dark when his friend offered him a smoke. He did not know that he had smoked hashish … he thought it was a normal Marlboro cigarette. He regretted having smoked that cigarette. Had he been aware that it was stuffed with drugs, he would not have smoked it. Drug enforcement officers, who arrested S., the woman friend, pressured her to give them the names of those whom she had invited to smoke hashish during the party. That was how my client was arrested,” argued the lawyer.
Monday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
