DUBAI // Two men handed the death penalty for the murder of a prostitute today failed in their bid to have the sentence dismissed after producing a waiver from the woman's family.
The death sentence for the two Afghans, who were convicted in March of the premeditated murder of the Uzbek prostitute MH in June 2010, was previously upheld by both the appeal and cassation courts, but they submitted a request for early release to the Dubai Criminal Court after the prostitute's family waived their right to demand their deaths.
The woman's flatmate and fellow prostitute, NA, told prosecutors that AA, 40, and IH, 30, visited their apartment in February and had sex with the two prostitutes. She said that one of the men, AA, was romantically involved with the murdered woman and that he was upset with her because she had a number of other relationships with other Afghan men.
She said she heard the screams of her friend as she was being killed by AA, but could not do anything about them as she was fighting with the other man, IH, who punched her and locked her in the bathroom.
One of the men's relatives said AA told him he had killed a Russian woman in Dubai and asked him for Dh6,000 (US$1,600).
Officers tracked the men to a bakery in Sharjah.
DNA from both of the men was found at the crime scene.
salamir@thenational.ae
