United Arab Emirates
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Retentionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 3
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · Capital crimes are: murder, rape, treason, aggravated...
- News items in the archive
- 417
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
United Arab Emirates is classified as Retentionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 3 the year before. The archive holds 417 news items on United Arab Emirates, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- JUNE 3, 2000United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
The UAE Central Bank called for the death penalty to...
The UAE Central Bank called for the death penalty to be applied worldwide for drug trafficking
- MAY 19, 2000United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
The Appeals Court upheld the death sentence against...
The Appeals Court upheld the death sentence against a [unidentified] policeman who murdered his two uncles after discovering his brother had secretly married his cousin
- APRIL 25, 2000United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
An appeals court in the United Arab Emirates commuted...
An appeals court in the United Arab Emirates commuted a sentence against an Indonesian woman from death by stoning for adultery to one year in prison
- APRIL 18, 2000United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
Four [unidentified] Pakistani men were sentenced to...
Four [unidentified] Pakistani men were sentenced to death for drug dealing by a UAE court
- APRIL 17, 2000United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
A Dubai appeals court upheld a death sentence against...
A Dubai appeals court upheld a death sentence against a 31-year-old Afghan man for possessing and selling drugs
- APRIL 12, 2000United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
The Dubai appeal court upheld the sentence on a 28-year-old...
The Dubai appeal court upheld the sentence on a 28-year-old Indian, identified only as a male, for stabbing to death a former colleague in 1998
- APRIL 12, 2000United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
Sheikh Rashid bin Humaid Al Qasimi, Deputy Director...
Sheikh Rashid bin Humaid Al Qasimi, Deputy Director of the Ras Al Khaimah Court, ordered the release of 24-year-old Khalid Mohammed Ahmed Al Mullah after prominent human rights activist Ansar Burney paid "diya" (blood money) of Dh 170,000
- APRIL 6, 2000United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
A Ras al-Khaimah sharia court ruled that anyone found...
A Ras al-Khaimah sharia court ruled that anyone found guilty of employing a magician to cast a spell on others will be sentenced to death because the practice violates Islamic law and is therefore blasphemous
- APRIL 6, 2000United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
A Ras al-Khaimah sharia court ruled that anyone found...
A Ras al-Khaimah sharia court ruled that anyone found guilty of employing a magician to cast a spell on others will be sentenced to death because the practice violates Islamic law and is therefore blasphemous
- MARCH 3, 2000United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
Ali Mohammed Al Hambousi Al Shehi was sentenced to...
Ali Mohammed Al Hambousi Al Shehi was sentenced to death for the murder of Abdullah Mohammed Hassan in a dispute over land ownership
- JANUARY 13, 2000United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
A new environment law foresees the death penalty for...
A new environment law foresees the death penalty for offences involving nuclear waste
- JANUARY 1, 2000United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
Two people were executed in 1999
Two people were executed in 1999
- JANUARY 1, 2000United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
Seven of the eight people sentenced to death in 1999...
Seven of the eight people sentenced to death in 1999 were foreign nationals, according to Amnesty International
- JANUARY 1, 2000United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
Capital crimes are: murder, rape, treason, aggravated...
Capital crimes are: murder, rape, treason, aggravated robbery, apostasy and drug offenses
- NOVEMBER 26, 1999United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
On November 26, the Cassation Court upheld a death...
On November 26, the Cassation Court upheld a death sentence handed down to a man convicted of peddling 71
- NOVEMBER 23, 1999United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
On November 23, the Ras Al Khaimah Appeal Court commuted...
On November 23, the Ras Al Khaimah Appeal Court commuted the death sentence handed down to Mohammed Rashid, a national, for raping an 11-year-old Syrian girl, to 10 years in prison
- NOVEMBER 11, 1999United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
On November 11, Wator Abata Asharij Zembini, 29, a...
On November 11, Wator Abata Asharij Zembini, 29, a Sri Lankan bus driver at a private school, was put to death by firing squad for the premeditated murder of an 18-year-old national, Nasser Abdullatif Mohammed Al Obaidli, in October 1998
- OCTOBER 19, 1999United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
On October 19, the United Arab Emirates issued a tough...
On October 19, the United Arab Emirates issued a tough environmental protection law that provides for the death penalty and high fines for violators
- AUGUST 2, 1999United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
On August 2, an 36-year-old Iranian man was sentenced...
On August 2, an 36-year-old Iranian man was sentenced to death by a Dubai court for dealing in heroin
- JULY 22, 1999United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
United Arab Emirates signed the letter, dated 22 July...
United Arab Emirates signed the letter, dated 22 July 1999, addressed to the President of the Economic and Social Council, in which the retentionist countries dissociated from the Commission on Human Rights resolution 1999/61 on the question of the death
- JUNE 1, 1999United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
On June 1, a 33-year-old Pakistani man was executed...
On June 1, a 33-year-old Pakistani man was executed for murdering a 15-year-old Pakistani girl, whose family had refused him her hand in marriage
- JUNE 1, 1999United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
In June, United Kingdom Transport Minister Glenda Jackson...
In June, United Kingdom Transport Minister Glenda Jackson intervened on behalf of British mariners who fear they could face the death penalty if they are caught polluting the waters of the Persian Gulf
- MAY 22, 1999United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
On May 22, the Cassation Court said it would hand down...
On May 22, the Cassation Court said it would hand down a final ruling on May 29 in the case of a Canadian sentenced to death for drug dealing
- APRIL 30, 1999United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
On April 30, the Cassation Court upheld the death sentence...
On April 30, the Cassation Court upheld the death sentence against Iranian Mahdi Attallah Tchawerzi for peddling 800g of heroin and opium
- MARCH 13, 1999United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
On March 13, John Aquino, a Filipino man who had been...
On March 13, John Aquino, a Filipino man who had been on death row for 10 years in the United Arab Emirates, had his death sentence for murder commuted to 15 years in jail
- JANUARY 1, 1999United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
Capital crimes are: murder, rape, treason, aggravated...
Capital crimes are: murder, rape, treason, aggravated robbery, apostasy and drug offenses
- JANUARY 1, 1999United Arab EmiratesDEATH PENALTY
In November, Ambassador Khaled Abdalla Bukraa, speaking...
In November, Ambassador Khaled Abdalla Bukraa, speaking at the Third Committee of the General Assembly on item 107 (crime prevention and criminal justice), said, "We want to underscore the importance of punishing drug pushers, and also drug users, in the