In a recently issued decree, the UAE amended the value of a woman’s blood money in the event of manslaughter to 200,000 dirhams, after it was calculated as half of a man’s blood money, or 100,000 dirhams, as decree of Federal Law No. 1 of 2019 stipulated in its first article on That “the blood money of the deceased person is wrongly determined by an amount of two hundred thousand dirhams,” and “by a decision of the Council of Ministers upon the proposal of the Minister of Justice, it is permissible to amend the amount of blood money stipulated in the previous paragraph by increasing or decreasing.”
In its second article, the decree indicated that “the provisions of this decree by law apply to all cases that have not been decided by a final ruling.” And in its third article, it is stated that “Federal Law No. (17) for the year 1991 determining the amount of the legal blood money for a deceased person who is wrong, is also repealed. Any rule contrary to the provisions of this decree shall be canceled by law. ”
Prior to the issuance of this decree, there was a dispute between state courts on how to calculate the blood money of a woman for manslaughter, as some of them calculated the blood money of the murdered woman by half the blood money of a man, that is 100 thousand dirhams only, while other courts approved the principle of gender equality in blood money.
Lawyers confirmed in investigations published by «Emirates Today», the importance of gender equality in blood money, especially that women have become an effective element in society, a necessary breadwinner for the requirements of life, and a significant partner, and must take the rights of men themselves.
They emphasized that the equality of the value of blood money between male and female in wrongful killing, according to the decree of the law that was recently issued, was fair to women and to achieve justice and gender equality, stressing that women have had their rights and demands to support and support the leadership in various fields, making it equal to men. It is unacceptable to distinguish between her and the man when her soul is mistakenly lost.
Lawyer Ayman Khalil said that the decree represents an important legal step, as it achieves equality between men and women in blood money in cases of manslaughter, noting that there are women who have been subjected to accidental murders in traffic accidents or medical errors, and they are supporters of families, widows, or divorced women. Hence their heirs should not be deprived of the full blood money, and benefit from it, on the basis that the soul is the same upon death.
Khalil affirmed that the Emirati legislator was keen, through this legislation, to ensure the fairness of women, and it reflects the interest of the state leadership in women's affairs and non-discrimination in rights from men, pointing out that this decree would unify the judicial rulings in the state courts regarding the blood money of women in wrongful killing.
It should be noted that the Federal Law No. 9 of 2003 had amended the amount of legal compensation for a deceased person’s mistake from 150,000 dirhams to 200,000 dirhams.
"The provisions of this decree of law apply to all cases that have not been decided by a final ruling."