Britons get life in UAE drugs case

RAS AL-KHAIMAH, United Arab Emirates -- Two British women in a drugs case have been sentenced to life in prison by a United Emirates court.

The life sentence against Anne Kidd, 32, and Anna Bartlett, 22 was handed down by an Islamic sharia court in the northern emirate of Ras Al-Khaimah, one of seven emirates that comprise the United Arab Emirates.

A third Briton, Daniel Maalouf, 28, received a 10-year sentence for "intending to trade in drugs."

All three have the option of appealing their convictions.

The three Britons were among six suspects -- including two other Britons and an Australian -- arrested last October and November in Ras al-Khamani and Dubai, and charged with possession and use of drugs and smuggling of hashish and cocaine to the UAE.

Of the six, only Maalouf and Bartlett have admitted to some of the charges, Reuters reported.

Under a 1995 law, drug-trafficking offences in the Emirates carry a possible death penalty. In practice, however, prisoners tend to receive life sentences and are often granted parole after 25 years.

The four judges who heard the case referred all six defendants to a court in neighbouring Dubai to face a second trial on similar drug-related charges.

In February, Bartlett, from Rochford, Essex, southern England, told the UAE court that she had given Stacy Simpson, another British defendant, some cocaine and hashish as a gift, but received no payment for it.

Simpson, 28, from Leeds, northern England, denied conspiring with Bartlett to import drugs into the Emirates. Simpson also denied possession, dealing in and use of cocaine, hashish and other tablets.

Simpson's girlfriend, Kidd, 32, also from Leeds, denied assisting Bartlett in bring hashish into the Emirates. She also denied possession and use of hashish, cocaine, methadone and morphine.

Last December, the UAE pardoned two other Britons for drug smuggling. Ian Bamling, a social worker, and Lyn Majakas, a head teacher at a school for special needs pupils were released early after serving a year of their four-and-a-half-year terms.

The pair had been arrested after being caught at Abu Dhabi international airport in October 1998 with a small amount of cannabis and bottles of alcohol.

The release was seen as a conciliatory gesture in line with the observance of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.