Woman appeals Dubai drug conviction on medical grounds

British woman's father said in court that she suffers from multiple disorders and was prescribed hashish by a doctor in London.

DUBAI // A 25-year-old British woman whose father said the drugs she was caught with were prescribed by doctors has appealed a four-year sentence handed to her by Dubai Criminal Court.

S S was charged and found guilty of consuming hashish by prosecutors earlier this year. Her father defended her in court and said his daughter suffered from multiple disorders and the banned drug was prescribed by UK doctors to help her.

Police were tipped off about her drug use on February 23. Officers visited her apartment on the Palm Jumeirah and arrested her but no drugs were found at her home.

A urine test came back positive and she was referred to prosecution.

“My daughter had been suffering from multiple and complicated disorders and the medical committee met her for only 20 minutes, they summed up a 10-year-long history of illness in 20 minutes — that can’t be possible,” said the father.

“I would request the court to assign a specialist to look into my daughter’s condition, she had been prescribed the medicinal cannabis by a doctor in London to take her off the chemical medications that she had been taking for years.”

However, the woman was sentenced to four years in jail to be followed by deportation but she appealed the verdict.

The Court of Appeal was due to deliver a verdict this week but it has delayed a ruling to listen to the testimony of doctors first.