Harish Kalaltil Aboobacker had reason to feel concern as well as gratitude as he prepared to step, a free man, through the gates of Al Wathba prison. Pardoned in a gesture of goodwill and compassion for Ramadan, the 34-year-old driver knew he would soon be reunited with his wife in India - and have to face up to the tricky task of explaining exactly why he had been convicted for adultery. "I am worried she will kill me upon my arrival in India," he explained, visibly distraught during an interview in the prison supervisor's office prior to his deportation. "She is very, very angry." This Ramadan more than 1,500 prisoners have been pardoned in the UAE, 700 of them by Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, President of the UAE and Ruler of Abu Dhabi. Most have been convicted of financial crimes and relatively minor offences such as drug use, trespassing and brawling. Aboobacker was working as a driver for a family in Abu Dhabi when he was caught having an affair with the housemaid. He was arrested after his sponsor telephoned the police. He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment, serving seven months before being selected as one of the prisoners in Abu Dhabi to be pardoned for Ramadan. "I accept my punishment as I was guilty," he says. He was dressed in the prison's distinctive blue uniform with a light blue collar. The colour of the collar signifies the length of an individual's sentence: blue for one year, yellow for four and red for seven. "There were many Indians in the prison with whom I could talk, and so it wasn't lonely," he said. In Abu Dhabi, 522 prisoners are being released, including 48 Emiratis who were immediately allowed to return to their families. The expatriate prisoners are being released over the coming days and will be deported to their countries of origin. Of the pardoned prisoners in Abu Dhabi, 30 were women. L B, a 29-year-old Filipina who asked for her name to be withheld, was still protesting her innocence as she left prison. "I lost seven months of my life in a jail," she said. For reasons of confidentiality, the prison authorities refuse to divulge details of her crime, but L B claims she was imprisoned for trespassing on premises reserved for men. "I went to use my friend's computer to chat with my family online, and the security guard saw me go in and said nothing," she said with tears in her eyes. "He waited until I was inside to call the police." Unable to speak for a few moments, she constantly adjusted the black scarf that contrasted with her bright green conservative uniform. "I am very grateful to be pardoned, but I believe I shouldn't have been here in the first place," she said. "When you go to jail, you appreciate the small things, the shampoo that an inmate would lend you, the toothpaste that another shares with you." If making friends made life in jail more bearable, L B found prison food not to her taste. However, she did appreciate the air-conditioning in her cell. "I will be going home this week, and the minute I arrive, I am going to church, and just pray, pray, pray," she said. "There is no place like home." While L B had lived in Abu Dhabi for only a few weeks before her arrest, another of those pardoned had not even made it out of the Abu Dhabi airport terminal. Arriving from Cairo to look for a job, Ahmad Mohammed Taha, 24, was caught with hashish in his pocket. "I don't know how it got there," he claimed. But he was convicted of possessing drugs and jailed for four years. In the end, he served just 18 months of his sentence, and was happy to be pardoned. "I can't wait to go home and kiss the soil of my country," he said, admitting that his parents were disappointed in him. "I hope my family forgives me and takes me back in, as I have repented and become a better Muslim. I had time to memorise the Quran, and I had time to pray and ask Allah to forgive me." Another drug user heading home was John Sebastian, 29, a Norwegian who was also convicted of possession and sentenced to four years. Like Taha, he was wearing a yellow-collared uniform denoting the length of his sentence. Despite his pardon, he remains angry about a conviction that had turned a 10-day Middle East holiday into an enforced 11-month stay. "The customs at Abu Dhabi airport found 0.3 grams of hashish in my bag," he said. "That was so insignificant; they could have just fined me and kicked me out of the country." Sebastian said of Al Wathba, "it's a jail and I hate it". He passed his time by reading more than 80 books, from fiction to works on religion and self-help, borrowed on regular visits to the well-stocked prison library. Despite the sense of grievance, Sebastian was thankful to be one of those pardoned; early release had cut three years off his punishment. "I want to get out of here to hug my family and I don't want to ever come back to the UAE," he said. By law, as one prison official pointed out, he is forbidden to return in any case. Prisoners have also been pardoned by the Rulers of other emirates, among them 133 in Sharjah, 60 in Ras al Khaimah, 81 in Ajman and 777 in Dubai. "The tradition of pardoning prisoners goes back to the late Sheikh Zayed, who wanted the UAE to be a country of tolerance and clemency," said Lt Col Ali Ahmed Abdullah al Khayal, head of Al Wathba's Corrections and Prisons Administration. "Those charged with simple crimes are pardoned. The major crimes like killing and rape are never among the pardoned." Each year, three committees at federal prisons draw up a list of eligible inmates which is then submitted to the Attorney General for review. In the case of local prisons, the list is sent to the ruler of the emirate. Lt Col Khayal explained that many factors influence the selection of prisoners for pardon, including good behaviour, the nature of the crime and the length of sentence. "Things like age, faith and nationality are not taken into account," he said. Besides the actual release, the prisoner's debts are also settled, a gesture unique to the UAE. The amount devoted to this arrangement totalled Dh2.3 million (US$ 630,000) this year, compared with Dh3.43 million in 2007. "Every year we have families coming to the prison right before Ramadan waiting excitedly to pick up their relative from prison," said Lt Col Khayal, who has been stationed at Al Wathba prison for 16 years. Pardons are also granted on other occasions, including Eid al Fitr, Eid al Adha and the UAE National Day. "Clemency is a gift," he said. "It helps alleviate some of the suffering of the families by allowing their jailed relatives to come back home and join them for Ramadan." The authorities do not forget, however, that each of these individuals was in prison for breaking UAE law. "The deported pardoned prisoners are blacklisted and are not allowed to come back to this country," said Lt Col Khayal. @email:rghazal@thenational.ae
