According to a report in UAE newspaper The National, Dubai Central Prison continues to hold 23 prisoners, despite them having completed their sentences, because they cannot afford to pay blood money settlements.
The prisoners were gaoled for a variety of reasons, with the common factor being that they unintentionally caused a death. Legal experts have pointed out that the prisoners now have to pay compensation to the families of those who have died, but for that they need a job. To get work they must be freed, but to be freed they must pay the blood money.
Nojood Othman, a psychologist at the humanitarian care division of the prison told the newspaper: ‘These people are in a worse situation than those sentenced to life… The majority of them are not even criminals – they accidently killed someone, so why are there no alternatives for them?’
The prisoners were gaoled for a variety of reasons, with the common factor being that they unintentionally caused a death. Legal experts have pointed out that the prisoners now have to pay compensation to the families of those who have died, but for that they need a job. To get work they must be freed, but to be freed they must pay the blood money.
Nojood Othman, a psychologist at the humanitarian care division of the prison told the newspaper: ‘These people are in a worse situation than those sentenced to life… The majority of them are not even criminals – they accidently killed someone, so why are there no alternatives for them?’
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