New law to grant UAE prisoners conjugal visits from wives

Brig Gen Hamad Al Shamsi, the director general of penitentiary institutions at the Ministry of Interior, said a new law has been submitted for approval.

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ABU DHABI // A draft law that would allow prison inmates conjugal visits with their wives and temporary time out in cases of emergency has been submitted for approval, the Ministry of Interior has said.

Brig Gen Hamad Al Shamsi, director general of penitentiary institutions at the ministry, said the law would give inmates the right to "temporary and emergency leave" and a "lawful retreat" with their wives, in keeping with the culture and traditions of UAE society.

Brig Al Shamsi also told The National's Arabic-language sister paper Al Ittihad that claims of abuse or torture of inmates were incorrect.

He said the country’s prisons "are completely clean from any torture tool, however small it might be".

Prisons in the UAE are "not a place to punish" wrongdoers but to rehabilitate them and help to them reintegrate into society, said Brig Al Shamsi.

He added there was no discrimination in jails based on colour, gender or religion.

newsdesk@thenational.ae