Man’s mistake in smoking hash-filled medwakh pipe

Man tells court his friend smoked his medwakh pipe without knowing it had hashish inside.

ABU DHABI // A man smoked his friend’s medwakh pipe not knowing it contained hashish, a court heard yesterday.

MJ, from Jordan, told the Criminal Court that his friend B, an Emirati, took the pipe “without knowing that I smoke it’.

When Chief Justice Sayed Abdul Baseer asked the Emirati if he possessed any drugs, the Jordanian interupted saying: “The drugs found in his possession were mine.”

However, the Jordanian denied a charge of facilitating drug use, saying that he was unaware that his friend was about to smoke from his medwakh pipe. Therefore, he reasoned, neither man was aware the Emirati was consuming drugs.

“So you decided to take the whole case on your shoulders?” the judge asked the Jordanian. “You will take it all for free?”

He then asked both men why they had confessed during police interrogation.

“They told me what to say and told me if I said what they told me to I would get out of jail before the case reached court,” explained the Emirati. “And they swore to me that I would get out, but I did not. We are ignorant about the law and we believed them.”

Both men asked to be referred to the medical committee so they could be considered for a rehabilitation order as neither man has previous drug offences.

“But if it is too difficult I would like a verdict as soon as possible in case I’m be included in a presidential pardoning,” added the Jordanian.

A verdict is expected on November 11.