Pakistani woman sentenced to death in Fujairah for dealing 149 g of hashish
A Fujairah Sharia Court sentenced a Pakistani woman to death on 12 December 2004 after finding her guilty of possessing and dealing in hashish. Police seized about 149 grams from her in an undercover sting after a tip-off. She said her stepfather gave her the bag and she did not know its contents; the prosecution did not believe her. Her lawyers appealed.
A Fujairah Sharia Court sentenced a Pakistani woman to death after finding her guilty of possessing and dealing in drugs.[1]Gulf News identified her only by the initials S.M., while later accounts named her as Lisa Tray.[1][2][3]
The sting
Fujairah police had received a tip that the woman was selling hashish on the East Coast.[1][2]After she set a time and place to carry out the deal, an undercover police agent was sent to meet her, and officers seized about 149 grams of hashish when she arrived.[1][2]
Her account
Questioned by police and prosecutors, the woman said her stepfather had given her the bag of hashish to deliver to someone and that she had not known what it contained, adding that she did not even know what hashish looked like.[1][2]The public prosecution did not believe her, charged her with possessing and trading in drugs, and the court imposed the death sentence.[1]Her lawyers appealed.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The Gulf News article was published on 13 December 2004 and says the sentence was passed "yesterday", so 12 December 2004 is used as the incident date.
Gulf News identified the woman only as S.M. while Cannabis Culture named her as Lisa Tray, a difference this report does not resolve.
The opened sources do not say what became of the appeal against the death sentence.
The sources name no arrest or charge against the stepfather who she said gave her the bag.
The same Gulf News article reports a reduced sentence on appeal for a UAE national from Dhadnah, a separate event left out here.
No photograph of the event with a recoverable direct image address was found in the opened sources.
Abu Dhabi's federal appeal court upheld a three-month use sentence and a trafficking acquittal for a man caught collecting hashish in Al Nahda, Sharjah. His co-defendant was sentenced in absentia to life over 1,091.1 grams of cannabis-linked drugs.
Abu Dhabi's Court of Appeal overturned a life sentence for possessing cannabis and psychotropic substances with intent to traffic and reclassified the offence as possession for personal use. The court found no evidence of promotion, negotiation or delivery, and said the investigation did not explain why police had concluded he was trading.
Dubai's criminal court sentenced a 35-year-old Bangladeshi man to life in prison, 25 years under UAE law, for trafficking cannabis after police found 193.13 grams in his flat and WhatsApp messages about sales. He had been caught in a sting in Al Nahda after a Sudanese buyer led investigators to him.
The United Arab Emirates pardoned Fidaa Kiwan, an Arab-Israeli photographer arrested in Dubai in April 2021, and she flew home to Israel on 26 March 2023. Prosecutors said she was found with 500 grams of cannabis and 50 grams of cocaine; her first sentence was death, later reduced to life on appeal.