'Unequal' laws stir anger behind bars

DUBAI // Discrepancies in enforcement of prison rules are to blame for a recent spate of unrest at jails around the emirate, lawyers and inmates say.

Police say regulations outlawing takeaway food, cigarettes and mobile phones in prisons are uniform, and any protests are simply a "pressure tool" detainees use in a bid to get what they want.

Others, however, say the rules are frequently flouted, sparking anger among some prisoners who feel they are treated more harshly than others.

Last month, 20 detainees in the Bur Dubai police station started rioting, demanding cigarettes and delivery food. Riot police were called to restore order.

In a separate incident, 10 people at the Ports detention centre went on a hunger strike for a day, demanding they be allowed to receive takeaway food, which they said had been allowed the day before but was now banned. That protest ended peacefully.

Police say inmates are fed regular meals and are forbidden to order meals from outside, yet prisoners and lawyers say these rules are not consistently enforced.

Yousef Al Bahar, of the Dubai law firm Al Bahar & Associates, said the problem did not lie in the rules and regulations or the strategy of the police, but in discrepancies between how rules were enforced.

"The problem is that each police station has its own procedures at the detention centre, and this is creating grievances among detainees, and in some instances, also disorder," said Mr Al Bahar.

"The confusion should stop, as well as the discrepancies. Police should ... ensure the same rules are applied everywhere."

Mr Al Bahar is handling the case of a group of detainees who are accused of setting fire to the detention centre at Al Rifa'a.

"The detainees demanded to have cigarettes after they heard that the inmates in Al Murqabat police station were allowed them," he said.

Maj Gen Khamis Al Mazeina, the deputy head of Dubai Police, said such things did not happen: all detention centres follow the same rules.

"Prisoners try to put pressure on the guards in different ways, including creating trouble to get their illegitimate demands, such as making phone calls at non-authorised timings or asking for food delivery. Riots and fires are the last pressure tool that prisoners use to get their demands when everything else fails."

Col Mohammad Nasser, the deputy director of Dubai Police's CID for police stations, said there were clear rules governing the police stations, and the rights of detainees were fully respected.

Yousef Hammad, of Hammad and Associates Advocates and Legal Consultancy, said he had witnessed no parallel sets of regulations.

"All the detentions follow the same regulations, with no exceptions," he said. "The riots are mainly reactions to collective disciplinary actions taken by the detention management due to violations carried out in the cells."

But Ali Dahi, of Pan Globe advocates and legal consultancy, said his experience had been quite the contrary.

"The different procedures at the detention centres are causing grievances among the detainees and are one of the main reasons behind fires and riots," he said. "Some detainees, with heavy criminal records, tend to think that they are unjustly treated when they hear about more relaxed rules at other detention centres, so acts such as riots become common as they are used to take on violence to resolve issues," he said.

In detention centres such as Al Rifa'a, Jebel Ali and Hatta, procedures are more flexible — inmates might, for example, be allowed to have a cigarette once a day. Centres such as Bur Dubai, Al Rashidya and Al Qusais, however, often see rules more strictly enforced, according to Mr Dahi.

"There is a logical reason for the difference," Mr Dahi said. "The majority of the detainees in places like Rifa'a are people who have been involved in bounced cheques cases or other trade-related cases due to the nature of the area covered, and thus they are usually peaceful people who follow prison guards' orders. Not much effort is needed to control them.

"In places covering residential areas, such as Bur Dubai and Al Rashidiya, there are many detainees arrested in connection with drugs, assaults and murder cases, so they are rebellious and stricter measures need to put in place to control them."

But even at the Bur Dubai detention centre in recent months, inmates traded and sold cigarettes, sweets, soft drinks and food with each other in "supermarkets" run by the longest-serving inmates, The National has observed. Some sold time on mobile phones. Once a week, guards allow inmates to order in food from a fast-food chicken restaurant.

Mohammed, 30, a detainee at the Ports police station, said conditions there changed drastically about two weeks ago. He said at that point, many things allowed were suddenly off-limits.

"We are not allowed to buy food any longer or even snack, and we are only provided small amounts of food," he said.

Among the items no longer permitted are newspapers, he said, although under police regulations they should be provided to detainees.

"We hear that things are different in other police stations," he said.

wissa@thenational.ae

* With additional reporting by Awad Mustafa

if you go

The flights
Flydubai offers three daily direct flights to Sarajevo and, from June, a daily flight from Thessaloniki from Dubai. A return flight costs from Dhs1,905 including taxes.
The trip
The Travel Scientists are the organisers of the Balkan Ride and several other rallies around the world. The 2018 running of this particular adventure will take place from August 3-11, once again starting in Sarajevo and ending a week later in Thessaloniki. If you’re driving your own vehicle, then entry start from €880 (Dhs 3,900) per person including all accommodation along the route. Contact the Travel Scientists if you wish to hire one of their vehicles.

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Common to all models unless otherwise stated

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From architects to sound technicians and construction companies, a group of experts from 10 companies have created the pavilion.

Work will begin in May; the first stone will be laid in Dubai in the second quarter of 2019.

Construction of the pavilion will take 17 months from May 2019 to September 2020.

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Name: Almnssa

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Based: Gaza

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Simran

Director Hansal Mehta

Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Soham Shah, Esha Tiwari Pandey

Three stars

Thank You for Banking with Us

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Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum

Rating: 4/5

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Based: Dubai

Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi

Sector: Sustainability

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Results

United States beat UAE by three wickets

United States beat Scotland by 35 runs

UAE v Scotland – no result

United States beat UAE by 98 runs

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Fixtures

Sunday, 10am, ICC Academy, Dubai - UAE v Scotland

Admission is free

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The specs

Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors

Power: 480kW

Torque: 850Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)

On sale: Now

The specs

Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor

Power: 320bhp

Torque: 605Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Price: From Dh219,000

On sale: Now

Tree of Hell

Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla

Director: Raed Zeno

Rating: 4/5

The specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl, 48V hybrid

Transmission: eight-speed automatic

Power: 325bhp

Torque: 450Nm

Price: Dh359,000

On sale: now

Cricket World Cup League 2

UAE squad

Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind

Fixtures

Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE

Huddersfield Town permanent signings:

Steve Mounie (striker): signed from Montpellier for £11 million
Tom Ince (winger): signed from Derby County for £7.7m
Aaron Mooy (midfielder): signed from Manchester City for £7.7m
Laurent Depoitre (striker): signed from Porto for £3.4m
Scott Malone (defender): signed from Fulham for £3.3m
Zanka (defender): signed from Copenhagen for £2.3m
Elias Kachunga (winger): signed for Ingolstadt for £1.1m
Danny WIlliams (midfielder): signed from Reading on a free transfer

Company profile

Name: Back to Games and Boardgame Space

Started: Back to Games (2015); Boardgame Space (Mark Azzam became co-founder in 2017)

Founder: Back to Games (Mr Azzam); Boardgame Space (Mr Azzam and Feras Al Bastaki)

Based: Dubai and Abu Dhabi

Industry: Back to Games (retail); Boardgame Space (wholesale and distribution)

Funding: Back to Games: self-funded by Mr Azzam with Dh1.3 million; Mr Azzam invested Dh250,000 in Boardgame Space

Growth: Back to Games: from 300 products in 2015 to 7,000 in 2019; Boardgame Space: from 34 games in 2017 to 3,500 in 2019

'Midnights'

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Need to know

When: October 17 until November 10

Cost: Entry is free but some events require prior registration

Where: Various locations including National Theatre (Abu Dhabi), Abu Dhabi Cultural Center, Zayed University Promenade, Beach Rotana (Abu Dhabi), Vox Cinemas at Yas Mall, Sharjah Youth Center

What: The Korea Festival will feature art exhibitions, a B-boy dance show, a mini K-pop concert, traditional dance and music performances, food tastings, a beauty seminar, and more.

For more information: www.koreafestivaluae.com