The Federal National Council passed a federal bill on the protection of witnesses and their equivalents, and increased the penalties for violating its provisions to reach the death penalty, in the event of disclosing information or data that proved to have led to the death of a witness in a case, or any of the protected persons or one of their family members.
Saif bin Zayed: - The UAE sees its leadership as proactive in keeping pace with changes and early warning of challenges. |
During its session, which was held yesterday evening, from a distance, Lieutenant General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, affirmed that “the UAE has a flexible and comprehensive legislative and legal structure, and a judicial system that enhances the efforts of the state in achieving a more society Security and stability.
In detail, the Federal National Council approved a federal bill on the protection of witnesses and their equivalents, during its seventh session of its first regular session of the 17th legislative term, which is the first session it held remotely in its history, in line with the precautionary measures used to deal with the Corona epidemic. Stressing the importance of this legislation in protecting witnesses and victims, whistle-blowers, experts, secret sources, their family members and people closely related to them, and whoever the judicial authority decides to protect from any threat surrounding any of them, assault, revenge, or intimidation, as well as its role in protecting society and reducing crime, And activate the role Community participation in crime detection.
The Council praised the humanitarian assistance provided by the state to its brotherly and friendly countries, its distance from political positions and the rise to humanitarian responsibility, to provide a model that the people of the Emirates and the whole world can be proud of.
The session, which was held via closed-circuit television, was chaired by Speaker of the Council, Saqr Ghobash, Lieutenant-General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Minister of Health and Community Protection and Minister of State for Federal National Council Affairs, Abdul Rahman Al-Owais, and a number of leaders The Ministry of the Interior, while the session witnessed the full attendance of the members of the Council.
The team, His Highness Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, stressed that “the UAE is one of the leading countries to keep pace with changes and be alert early to challenges in a proactive manner, and that, by seeing its leadership, it has a flexible and comprehensive legislative and legal structure, and a judicial system enhances the state’s efforts to achieve a more society Security and stability. ”His Highness pointed out the importance of sustaining the system of development and modernization in all fields in line with the times and current requirements, and enhancing community participation in detecting crime safely, according to the law, so that this desired development will positively reflect on efforts to protect society, enhance its security, and preserve On his civilizational achievements.
His Highness stated that the approval of the witness protection law comes within the UAE’s keenness on this approach, in enhancing community security and protecting its members, and works to reduce crime rates and activate social responsibility by contributing to this in a safe environment.
Council members decided to change the name of the draft law to become a federal bill for the year 2020, regarding the protection of witnesses and the like, due to the presence of other similar categories protected by the law.
According to the draft law, the scope of validity in terms of those covered by protection includes the witness, the victim, the notifier, the expert, and the confidential source. The provisions of this law also apply to family members or any person whose life or safety may be at risk, because of his close relationship to the protected person, or Whoever decides to protect him.
According to the draft law, the scope of validity in terms of crimes committed includes: terrorist crimes, crimes of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, crimes of weapons, ammunition, explosives and military hardware, money laundering and terrorist financing and illegal organizations, crimes of human trafficking, crimes of information technology, and crimes against state security And its interests, crimes related to the public office, crimes punishable by the crime of felony, and any other crimes the judicial authority considers to include a person in the protection program, and any other crimes determined by a decision of the Council of Ministers upon the proposal of the Minister Interior, after coordination with the Minister of Justice.
The draft law states that a decision shall be established by the head of the competent authority and the protection unit, to assume all tasks and procedures related to providing protection, in accordance with the obligations and powers determined by the executive regulations. The protection unit will develop a proposal for the protection program, and be approved by the competent authority. .
Tight penalties
The draft law toughened the penalties, without taking any more severe punishment stipulated in any other law, so that it is punishable by imprisonment for a period of no less than six months and a fine of no less than 50 thousand dirhams, and no more than 100 thousand dirhams, or one of these two penalties, everyone who discloses Information or data entrusted to it according to the provisions of this law, and the penalty shall be imprisonment, if the person covered by the protection, or a member of his family, is prejudicial to the integrity of his body as a result of the disclosure of this information or data, and the penalty shall be death if it is proven that the disclosure of information or data led to the death of the protected person Or a loved one.
The Council of Ministers shall issue the executive regulations of the law based on the proposal of the Minister of the Interior, within six months of the date of its publication, and every ruling that violates or contradicts its provisions will be canceled.