DUBAI // A prisoner transfer agreement has been signed between the UAE and the UK – but Britons jailed here for bouncing cheques will not benefit.
The agreement will make it possible for Emiratis jailed in Britain, and British citizens jailed in the UAE, to serve the remainder of their sentences in their home country.
The deal was signed by ministers in London on January 24 at a meeting of the UK-UAE Taskforce, a high-level body set up to strengthen relations between the countries. The UAE delegation was led by Dr Anwar Gargash, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.
The agreement has already become law in the UAE and is due to come into force in the UK in a few weeks’ time.
The signing, which came after months of negotiations between the sides, was announced on the website of the UAE Embassy in London.
However, a key point is what is known as reciprocity – a prisoner can only benefit if the offence he or she was convicted of is recognised as a crime in both countries. This means that bouncing a cheque – a criminal offence in the UAE but not in the UK – is not covered.
“The agreement will enable some prisoners from Britain to serve their sentences in the UK so they have access to their families.
That is the principal reason,” said Edward Hobart, the UK’s consul general to Dubai.
“There must be reciprocity in the crimes, the crimes have to be recognised in the two jurisdictions. It can cover any prisoner where there is a reciprocal crime, so theft in one country is theft in the other country.
“We do expect there will be prisoners who will be able to benefit from it. It’s in everybody’s interests – it’s in the prisoners’ interests, it’s in their families’ interests, and there’s no requirement from either the UAE or the UK side for people to serve their sentences in one particular country or the other.”
The British Embassy in Dubai plans to set out the process for applying for a transfer before the agreement comes into full force.
The normal process in other countries where the UK has similar arrangements is that the prisoner applies to the head of the prison and the application is then considered.
The embassy said the agreement would not give a prisoner an automatic right to a transfer. The consent of both governments would be required before a transfer could take place, and this was not guaranteed.
Prisoners moved to the UK would be subject to the normal parole arrangements that apply to inmates there.
Official data about the number of Britons serving prison terms in the UAE is not available. The latest figures from Britain’s foreign and commonwealth office show that 201 British nationals were arrested in the Emirates in the year to March 31, 2012.
A spokeswoman for the UK prisons service said that on December 31 there were three Emiratis in jail in England and Wales.
The Emirates Banks Association, an industry group, this week said it would be making recommendations to the government regarding the replacement of the laws that criminalise bounced cheques.
A second agreement was signed at the task-force meeting in London by the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts (DIFC) and the UK commercial court.
It formalised an existing arrangement where a judgment issued by one of the courts can be enforced by the other, provided the second court has jurisdiction over the individual or company concerned. This is possible because both courts operate the common law judicial system.
“It’s quite important in terms of giving confidence to British companies, and indeed many companies, about doing business in Dubai and using DIFC either as their base or their point of arbitration,” said Mr Hobart.
"It shows this is quite a respected court system, it has a very good track record."
csimpson@thenational.ae
