ABU DHABI // For Chief Justice Shehab al Hammadi, a courtroom is set up for a single purpose: for the accused to present their best defence.
Even the gavel is a symbol of coercion, he said, and does not belong in his courtroom. Chief Justice al Hammadi, who presides over all state security cases at the Federal Supreme Court, says it is the judge's responsibility to ensure defendants believe in the system. "The basic principle that governs the relationship between a defendant and a judge is that the defendant should be fully confident he or she is arraigned before a fair trial and a court of law," Chief Justice al Hammadi said in a rare interview. "The defendant should also be confident the judge is an independent judge, who does not represent any party, and that the court derives its decisions from the constitution."
At a recent trial, for example, the chief justice stormed out of the courtroom as inmates entered the room in shackles. He immediately adjourned the hearing and told the prison guards that he would not tolerate the arraignment of inmates in shackles. "A defendant entering the courtroom should be like a student entering an exam hall," he said. "A defendant should have slept comfortably, had their breakfast, taken a shower and come here ready to defend themselves the best they can. Nothing should affect even their short-term memory."
Chief Justice al Hammadi was born in 1963 in Khor Fakkan, Sharjah. He has been a judge since 1985. He worked as a judge at the Administrative Tribunal of the League of Arab States between 2001 and 2003, and was head of the tribunal in 2003. His experiences have led him to believe that a simple word or gesture to a defendant can cause more lasting harm than even a jail sentence. "It is better to convict them but respect them rather than acquit them but disrespect them," he said. "A jail sentence does not last for ever, but an insult can last for a lifetime."
In one instance, he rebuked a court translator who addressed a Bangladeshi defendant "disrespectfully". "Please, when you speak to defendants, make sure you speak to them nicely," he told the translator. "If you do not, then it can be considered a form of coercion, and that is not acceptable here." And every action has an impact, he said. In another recent hearing, he asked a family to take a child they brought with them outside the courtroom before he summoned the mother back.
"You should not bring children into the court; he does not need to see this," he told the mother. During trials, he examines the courtroom every few minutes to see whether there are children or families with the defendants. If he is presiding over the trial of a man, he is careful not to say anything that would hurt the feelings of his family. "I assume the man has a child among the attendants, and such words would leave a negative impression about the father," he said.
In the end, he said, he strives to be the best type of judge. There are three, he says: two will be sent to hell and one will be sent to Heaven. The bad types are those who know the truth and judge differently or do not know the truth yet judge despite their ignorance. The one in Heaven, he says, is a judge who knows the truth and judges accordingly. "Ignorance breeds injustices; a judge may want to be just, but because he is not aware of all aspects of the law, he judges wrongly," he said. "Knowledge, when combined with fairness, leads to justice."
hhassan@thenational.ae
