Prosecutors lose in appeal bid over Dubai prison inmate rape claims

Emirati prisoner has been acquitted of raping his cellmate after the court said there was not enough evidence.

DUBAI // Prosecutors have lost their appeal against the acquittal of a prisoner after he was charged with raping a fellow inmate at Dubai Central Prison.

Emirati A A, 33, was found not guilty by Dubai Criminal Court on March 25 due to a lack of evidence.

Prosecutors had said that A A had waited for his cellmate to take medication that puts him into a deep sleep before raping him on October 1, 2013.

“It was 9pm when I took five tablets prescribed by the psychiatrist, some of which are sleeping pills,” said the alleged victim, Emirati A D, 23.

“I woke up at almost 4am to bad pain and found the defendant behind me. I knew then he had raped me.”

He said he confronted the defendant but A A denied raping him.

A forensics report found the defendant’s DNA on the clothes and body of A D and also found that alleged victim suffered from hepatitis C.

Prosecutors unsatisfied by the verdict appealed but lost as Dubai Court of Appeal upheld the ruling.