ABU DHABI // The lawyer of a man accused of taking drugs told an appeals court this week that police did not follow correct procedure when taking a urine sample.
The Emirati was previously convicted of a drug offence and was placed under surveillance for a year after his release from prison.
By law, police can take urine samples from former offenders at any time in the following year.
But the man's lawyer, Ahmad Al Othali, said a sample taken from his client was requested two years after he had left jail and so could not be used in evidence.
Mr Al Othali began his defence with a story about the Prophet Mohammed. It involved a woman accused of falling pregnant to a man who was not her husband.
Her husband insisted the child was not his but she insisted it was.
Even when the baby was born with the other man's features, the Prophet did not rule against the woman, as he said there was insufficient evidence to do so.
"If the Prophet himself, who was the legislator of his time, refrained from convicting the woman for the lack of evidence, then how can this man be convicted?" Mr Al Othali asked the court.
The case has been passed from the appeals court to the court of cassation and back after a sentence, which was not specified, was passed by the criminal court.