DRUG TERM REDUCED FROM LIFE TO THREE YEARS

ABU DHABI // A young man sentenced to life in prison for drug dealing
has had his sentence reduced to three years.

F, a Jordanian, tried to sell Dh1,000 worth of hashish to an
undercover officer. F, who was 17 when arrested, confessed to the charges.

But the Criminal Court of First Instance decided to try him as an
adult under Sharia law and sentenced him to life in prison.

Public Prosecution took the rare step of appealing against the
verdict and asking for a lighter sentence, saying drug crimes do not
fall under Sharia oversight, unlike adultery, murder or crimes
related to alcohol, and the boy should be sentenced as a juvenile.

Juveniles serve time in correction centres, not prisons.

Two other defendants who were convicted of using hashish were
sentenced to time in a correction centre, followed by deportation.

A legal source explained the court tried F as an adult because drugs
have the same effects as alcohol. The Court of Appeals continued to
view F as an adult but reduced the sentence out of mercy, he said.