DUBAI // An man sent to jail for one month for trying to kill himself had his sentence reduced to a fine yesterday after a court decided he was suffering from extreme depression at the time.
The 41-year-old Emirati, HK, was charged last October at the Dubai Misdemeanours Court with attempting to kill himself after taking a handful of unidentified pills washed down with antiseptic on January 21. He was being held on drug charges in a Dubai Police anti-drugs department cell. The Dubai Court of Appeals changed his sentence to a fine of Dh1,000.
Records say his cellmate succeeded in killing himself; HK survived and was in hospital intensive care for weeks.
Judge Abdel Majid al Nizami sentenced HK to one month in jail, but on appeal his lawyer argued that his client had fallen into a deep depression while spending a year in Jail on drug charges, which were eventually dismissed.
"During his period inside, his mother, family and friends all cut their relationship with him and he fell in to a deep depression," said Saeed al Ghailani.
"After the charges were dropped and he was released, his mother and family returned into his life, and he recovered from his depression," Mr al Ghailani continued. "I plead with the court to drop the sentence otherwise he will return to the same cycle and will have his life ruined for good."
Calls for a change in the law have highlighted how depression leads to suicide.
Suicidal thoughts are a psychiatric illness that should not be considered a crime, said Dr Yousef Abou Allaban, the director of the American Centre for Psychiatry and Neurology.
"It is very unfortunate this law exists," he said. "Suicide is not a crime, it is a stage of despair. These patients would need immediate help, which they will not find in prison."
amustafa@thenational.ae
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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USA: Seeking The Soul/Dallas Stewart, Imperial Hunt/Luis Carvajal Jr, Audible/Todd Pletcher, Roy H/Peter Miller, Yoshida/William Mott, Promises Fulfilled/Dale Romans, Gunnevera/Antonio Sano, XY Jet/Jorge Navarro, Pavel/Doug O’Neill, Switzerland/Steve Asmussen.
Japan: Matera Sky/Hideyuki Mori, KT Brace/Haruki Sugiyama. Bahrain: Nine Below Zero/Fawzi Nass. Ireland: Tato Key/David Marnane. Hong Kong: Fight Hero/Me Tsui. South Korea: Dolkong/Simon Foster.
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Name: Fruitful Day
Founders: Marie-Christine Luijckx, Lyla Dalal AlRawi, Lindsey Fournie
Based: Dubai, UAE
Founded: 2015
Number of employees: 30
Sector: F&B
Funding so far: Dh3 million
Future funding plans: None at present
Future markets: Saudi Arabia, potentially Kuwait and other GCC countries
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3 Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
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8 Charles Leclerc (Sauber)
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18 Stoffe Vandoorne (McLaren)
19 Sergey Sirotkin (Williams)
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