- Investigation. Shall be conducted in Arabic. The Defendant does not know Arabic. A translator shall be resorted thereto after taking oath unless he is already sworn. Violation of the same. Effect. Nullification.

- The Appellant in cassation adheres to its defence of nullification of his confession in the evidence-gathering minutes as he took such statements in Urdu language without a translator. Meritorious defence. Disregard by the contested judgment of the response thereto and that he took his confession in consideration in the evidence-gathering minutes despite being adhered to nullification. Deficiency in reasoning and violation of the right of defence. It shall be reversed.

Whereas, in the facts - as apparent in the contested judgment and the documents - the Public Prosecution attributed to the Defendant that on 01/10/2017 and before that, at Sharjah Directorate:

He acquired, with the intent of trade, the narcotic drug “marijuana” in other than the cases authorised by the Law.

The incident was registered as a felony, according to Articles 1, 6/1, 48/2, 56/1, 63 and 65 of Federal Law no. (14) of 1995 on fighting narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances and its amendments, and the table enclosed to the Law.

At the hearing of 15/11/2018, the Court of First Instance ruled in the presence of the parties to sentence the Appellant in cassation to life imprisonment for the accusation assigned thereto and to deport him from the State after execution of the penalty and confiscation of seized goods.

The losing party appealed the said judgment under appeal no. 867/2018. On 25/03/2019, the Court of Appeal of Abu Dhabi ruled to accept the appeal in the form and in the merits to reject it and confirm the appealed judgment.

The Appellant in cassation did not agree upon this ruling and appealed it under the current appeal.

The Public Prosecution submitted its legal opinion memorandum stating its rejection of the appeal in cassation.

Whereas the Appellant in cassation objects to the contested judgment for miscarriage of justice, deficiency in reasoning and violation of the right of defence, as he convicted him of the crime assigned thereto despite his adherence to his defence that he confirmed the first instance judgment of his accusation of acquisition of narcotic drugs with the intent of trade, despite the fact that the case documents did not contain any evidence based on his confession in the minutes of evidence-gathering taken without a translator by the investigator ............ in the Urdu language and he is of the Sri Lankan nationality and does not know Urdu language. The Defendant denied this in the Public Prosecution investigations and that his acquisition was for the intent of use. Whereas the contested judgment ruled to confirm the condemnation without achieving the defence of the Appellant in cassation, then it is defective and shall be reversed.

Whereas this objection is valid, as it is prescribed, in the jurisdiction of this Court, and according to Article 70 of the Criminal Procedure Law, that “investigation shall be carried out in Arabic and if either of the Defendant, litigant, witnesses or others that the Public Prosecution deems to hear their testimonies, does not know Arabic, the Public Prosecution shall resort to a translator after the latter takes an oath to carry out his task with trust and honesty”. This also applies to the evidence-gathering procedures and the investigation carried out by the Court, as it is prescribed that questioning the foreign Defendant or others who do not know the Arabic language, which is the language of the Courts, according to Article 4 of the Civil Procedure Law, in the evidence-gathering minutes and before the Court, on which the judgment is based without resorting to a sworn translator to take his testimony, renders this procedure void, which extends to the judgment based on the same.

Thus, whereas it is proved upon perusal of the appealed judgment whose reasons are confirmed in the contested judgment to which the rest of the documents are assigned, that the Appellant in cassation had adhered to his defence by voiding his confession in the evidence-gathering minutes as he took it without a translator, and the investigator ............... took his statements in the Urdu language that he does not understand and without a translator, and whereas the appealed judgment, confirmed by the contested judgment, was based on the confession in the evidence-gathering minutes, without stating the defence of the Appellant in cassation stated in the judgment, and disregarded this defence despite being a meritorious defence that the opinion may change therewith in the accusation, and ruled to condemn him for acquiring narcotic drugs and his declaration in the evidence-gathering minutes that the appealed judgment confirmed by the reasons thereof in the contested judgment, stated that the plea shall be stated with valid reasons of acceptance or rejection. Whereas the appealed judgment disregarded the response to the defence of the Appellant in cassation despite being a meritorious defence, disregarded the same and condemned the Appellant in cassation, taking his confession in consideration in the evidence-gathering minutes despite being adhered to rejection as it was taken without a translator, then the contested judgment confirming the appealed judgment is defective for deficiency in reasoning and violation of the right of defence then it shall be reversed with referral, without the need to discuss the rest of the grounds of appeal.