PUBLICAI Index: MDE 25/05/00

UA 353/00Flogging15 November 2000

UNITED ARAB EMIRATESPifatool Karima (f), Sri Lankan national

4 unnamed Emirati men and women

Five people have been sentenced to flogging by a Shari’a (Islamic) court in the Emirate of Fujairah.

Pifatool Karima was reportedly sentenced to 120 lashes and 14 months imprisonment for adultery, and will be deported after serving her sentence. An Indian man tried for the same crime was apparently acquitted.

Four unnamed Emirati men and women were sentenced to between 90 and 120 lashes each, and to prison terms ranging from 10 and 16 months. They had also been charged with adultery. No further information is available on these cases.

Amnesty International has received reports that at least 18 individuals have been sentenced to flogging in the United Arab Emirates so far this year. The least severe of these sentences was 80 lashes. The organization considers flogging to be a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, which may amount to torture. Such treatment is prohibited under international standards such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which says that "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" (Article 5).

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send telegrams/telexes/faxes/express/airmail letters in English, Arabic or your own language:

- urging the authorities to commute the sentence of flogging against Pifatool Karima and the four unnamed Emirati men and women;

- pointing out that flogging is a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, which violates of international human rights standards such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;

- urging that the use of flogging as a judicial punishment be stopped.

APPEALS TO: (Please note that it can be difficult to get through to fax numbers)

Prime Minister

His Highness Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al-Maktoum

Prime Minister, Office of the Prime Minister

POB 12848, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Faxes: + 971 4 435 3333

Salutation:Your Royal Highness

Minister of Justice & Islamic Affairs

His Excellency Mohammad Nukhairah al-Dhahiri

Minister of Justice & Islamic Affairs

Ministry of Justice & Islamic Affairs

PO Box 753 Abu Dhabi

United Arab Emirates

Telegrams:Justice Minister, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Faxes:+ 971 4 282 5557

email: mojia@uae.gov.ae

Salutation:Your Excellency

COPIES TO:

Human Rights Department

Dubai Police General Headquarters

PO Box 1493

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Faxes: + 971 4 622 133

Salutation:To whom it may concern

and diplomatic representatives of the United Arab Emirates accredited to your country.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 27 December 2000.