UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: DEATH-ROW WOMAN IS FREED ON APPEAL

an Emirati woman was acquitted by the Abu Dhabi High Court after spending more than seven years on death row for fatally shooting her brother-in-law in Al Gharbia in January 2004 after he raped her twice. ARM was convicted by the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance, but she retracted her confession as it was given under duress. The case went to the Court of Cassation twice. Initially her confession was struck out, the second appeal saw her acquitted because without her confession there was no evidence against her. The decision is final.