Three jailed for giving race camel electric shocks

Dubai Three men were jailed for three months each for jolting a camel with electric shocks using a robot jockey to win in a camel race.

The Dubai Misdemeanours Court ordered that the camel, Soljan 12, and the robot jockey used to jolt her to take second place, be confiscated.

Prosecutors accused a 26-year-old Emirati, M.A., a 25-year-old Bangladeshi, M.H., and a 56-year-old Omani, S.A., of abusing the camel, torturing it and giving her electric jolts to run faster.

Pronouncing Wednesday's judgement, Presiding Judge Rifaat Mahmoud Tolba jailed the three for three months each.

A fourth Emirati, 54-year-old S.A. was acquitted of any involvement.

Camel to be confiscated

The order to confiscate the camel means the animal won't be allowed to run in any more races.

According to the charge sheet, the three accused were said to have used robot jockeys equipped with prods that delivered jolts of electricity to make the camel run faster.

S.A. was acquitted on the grounds he was out of town when the incident happened.

When the defendants appeared in court they pleaded not guilty.

M.H. testified that he entered four camels in the race but denied knowing Soljan 12. Police did not confiscate any illegal device on the back of any of the camels, he claimed.

"I did put the robot jockeys on the backs of the camels but I did not know that any of them had an electric jolter. The robot jockey that had the electric jolter must have been placed or used by mistake," M.H. claimed.

The judgement is subject to appeal within 15 days.