Woman cleared of prostitution but jailed for impersonation in UAE
Judge orders her to be deported after serving one-year sentence
Dubai: A Palestinian woman was on Wednesday acquitted of prostitution charges, but faces a year in jail after a court convicted her of stealing the identity card of an Emirati woman and impersonation.
The Dubai Court of First Instance cleared the 29-year-old Palestinian woman, M.T. of working as a prostitute after her lawyer, Jasem Al Naqbi, of Excel Advocates and Legal Consultants, said that "the sting operation during which police arrested her was staged".
Pronouncing Wednesday's judgment, Presiding Judge Fahmi Mounir Fahmi said the defendant, M.T., will spend a year in jail for using the Emirati woman's identity, impersonation and obstructing justice. She will be deported after serving her jail term.
"My client was arrested in a sting operation. One of the law enforcement officers who initiated a sexual activity with my client should be listed as suspect in this case. We ask the court to charge him with consensual sex… otherwise we ask the jury to dismiss the prostitution charge...," defended Al Naqbi. According to the charge sheet, prosecutors accused the woman of working as a prostitute and using an Emirati woman's identity card.
Prosecutors charged her when she claimed to be the Emirati, A.A., who was registered in police records as a prostitute. The primary judgment remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
