A courtroom was evacuated on Wednesday after a prisoner threatened to stab himself with a pen.
The Emirati, serving four years in jail for using drugs, made the threat at Abu Dhabi Court of Appeal after demanding he be sent to rehabilitation.
According to the law, the chief justice said, only first-time offenders were offered rehab and the defendant was a repeat offender.
After being taken out from court the man re-entered, grabbed a pen, broke it in half and made the threat before the situation was brought to control.
hdajani@thenational.ae