PRISON INMATES BEATEN

7DAYS
April 7 2008
United Arab Emirates

A team of 25 prison wardens and police officers has appeared in court
charged with subjecting prisoners to vicious beatings while they were
locked up in jail. One inmate was beaten and injured so badly that
he was left with permanent disabilities, it is alleged.

The defendants, who all worked for the police’s anti-riot squad or as
prison wardens, are accused of attacking several prisoners as they
searched for drugs and other illegal products inside the prison’s
cells in August last year. As they conducted their search with the
help of sniffer dogs at Dubai Central Jail at Al Aweer, some of the
officers are alleged to have set upon the inmates and attacked them
with batons, fists and their feet.

One Armenian prisoner was beaten so viciously that he was left
disabled, judges at the Dubai Court of First Instance were told
yesterday. Several prisoners have given statements saying they were
left terrified during the search and detailed the horrific beatings
that they said they endured at the hands of the wardens and police
officers.

All the suspects, who include a former prison director and three
police lieutenants, deny charges of abusing their power and beating
up prisoners incarcerated at the prison. During the hearing, the
Public Prosecutor asked for harsh sentences to be handed down if the
men are convicted of the offences as they had abused a position of
trust placed upon them.

The prison holds around 3,000 inmates with more than 40 per cent of
prisoners being held for failing to repay their loans, according to
Dubai Police.

The mens’ trial has now been adjourned until later in the month.