Woman accused of altering family name on official UAE documents

K H, an Emirati, is accused of using the new family name along with six family members to issue forged passports and ID cards.

ABU DHABI // An immigration official amended her family name on documents to issue passports and ID cards for her relatives, the Criminal Court heard on Monday.

K H, an Emirati, is accused along with six members of her family of using her status as an employee at the Naturalisation and Residency Departments department to add an extra “A” to the family surname in the Family Book.

She then used the new family name along with the six family members to issue forged passports and ID cards.

When she was presented with the charges in court, she denied committing any forgery and said the changes were only made in the system.

“We did not participate and forge anything, the changes only appeared in the computer,” she said.

Chief Justice Idris Binmansour asked who made the changes in the computer, she said: “We did the amendment, but we did not save the changes.”

The chief justice argued that the changes were registered, issued and used.

He said: “Do you have the right to do this amendment?”

She replied she did not have the authority to do so, and denied she issued forged documents.

“I only added the A in the family book because it is the correct family name,” she said.

She said it was her job to input data into the system.

When she was asked who added the “A”, she said she did not know.

Her defence attorney then interrupted asking the court for an adjournment before questioning the defendants.

The court read out the charges to all seven, and agreed to postpone until April 22 to hear the defendants’ statements.