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Dubai: A lawyer has accused airport police of beating and provoking his client, who is on trial for taking a woman hostage and threatening to cut her neck with glass, heard a court.
The lawyer blamed airport police, who wore civilian clothes for beating and chasing his 36-year-old Gambian client after he "refused to show his passport to men who didn't identify themselves formally, as policemen, at the transit terminal."
The suspect, O.J., is on trial for threatening to slit the neck of a 24-year-old Ukrainian woman, beating and injuring her, as charged by the Public Prosecution.
Addressing his defence to the Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday, Dr Riyadh Al Kabban, of Al Kabban Advocates and Legal Consultants said: "My client's left eye got completely swollen ... we are submitting a photocopy to court to verify our claims. This is the second time I encounter a case in which airport police beat passengers. Dubai is an international hub and so is its airport.
"The camera footage has clearly shown that he got beaten by a group of policemen in national dress who were chasing him. The concerned authorities should look into this matter and question those men."
Dr Al Kabban argued: "O.J. was beaten and put under psychological pressure... hence we ask the court to consider his circumstances especially after he was dangerously provoked to commit what happened... he did what he did in an act of self-defence, thus according to articles 95, 96, 97 and 98 of the Federal Penal Code, we ask the court to pass a lenient punishment."
The suspect denied his charges earlier.
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