Al Ain inmate who threatened to kill prison chief gets one-year sentence

Man wrote letter to Al Ain Central Prison's govenor threatening to kill him if he was not allowed to smoke on prison grounds.

ABU DHABI // An inmate who threatened to kill a prison chief if he did not allow him to smoke will spend a further year in jail, the Cassation Court ruled on Monday.

The convict sent a written letter to the chief, threatening him if he was not allowed to smoke on prison grounds, the court heard.

Al Ain Central Prison, where the inmate is being held, is an old building and smoking is not permitted anywhere near it.

Al Ain Court of First Instance sentenced the defendant to three years in jail for the offence, as per article 351 of the federal penal code.

The inmate appealed and had his sentence reduced to a year but he again appealed, this time to the Cassation Court, through a lawyer appointed to him by the courts.

His defence argued that the lower courts based their conviction verdicts on a psychiatrist report that was contradictory and should not have been taken into account.

The Cassation Court found the argument invalid because the defendant had confessed to the First Instance court that he had written the letter to the chief. The psychiatrist’s report also said that there was no proof that the defendant was unaware of his actions.

The cassation ruling took into account that the lower courts’ decision was based on the investigation of the incident and after they were completely convinced of the defendant’s conviction.

It therefore upheld the Appeals Court verdict and issued a Dh5,000 fee to be paid to the appointed lawyer from the judicial department’s account.