UAE legislators have recently issued Federal Law Number 53 of 2019 regarding Electronic monitoring of prisoners in the country (the Law).

The Law offers temporary detention than imprisonment for offenders in minor offences or other related offences. The concerned Law is in line with the new Penal Code of UAE (Federal Decree-Law number 17 of 2018 amending Federal Law number 35 of 1992) allowing for confinement of accused in a specific area that is either his place of residence or other space authorized by the criminal court. The Criminal Lawyers of Dubai will thus, enlighten the readers regarding the nitty-gritty of the Law for a better understanding.

According to Article 1 of the Law, the public prosecutor or the criminal court has the authority to offer this other electronic detention to prisoners against whom a final judgment has been issued or any accused in a criminal matter whose hearing has been adjourned by the court. The electronic device or transmitter will provide information concerning

the whereabouts of the concerned accused and will notify the authority if the accused move out of the permissible territory limits. To be more precise, the Law allows the Public prosecutor or criminal court to offer electronic detention under three circumstances as follows:

a. In matters of temporary arrest, the court instead of ordering provisional arrest may order for automatic detention;

b. In other cases,the court may at its discretion order for such electronic monitoring;

c. In cases where the accused has finished half period of his detention according to judgment, the court may allow him to finish his further arrest through electronic monitoring.

In addition, the Law allows different ways to the Ministry of Interior to monitor the whereabouts of the accused through transmitter and Ministry can utilize different procedures and application to supervise his movement such as GPS or by inputting directions of his house as according to Article 3 of the Law. Accordingly, the Ministry of

Interior is responsible for establishing a database containing all relevant information about the accused’s movement at a federal or state level.

The Law further confirms the different qualities of the electronic device under Article 5 as follows:

a. The method is not at all harmful for the accused;

b. Emirates Authority has certified it for Standardization and Metrology;

c. It will not restrict the accused from performing his regular duties;

d. Will ensure his privacy at all times;

e. It guarantees the confidentiality of the data or any information of the accused.

Another significant provision of the Law is Article 10 highlighting the duties of the accused under electronic detention which are as follows:

a. The accused is not allowed to remove the transmitter without prior permission of the public prosecutor;

b. He/she must immediately report the federal prosecutor through the Ministry of Interior for any amendments in his accommodation or job change;

c. The prisoner must update the public prosecutor through the Ministry of Interior if he/she wishes to visit another house for more than 15 days;

d. He/she must at all times respect the orders of the public prosecutor;

e. He or she must appear before the federal prosecutor whenever called for;

f. The accused shall not cause any damage to the machine;

g. The accused has no right to travel outside the country unless authorized by the court, and if he is, he shall inform the public prosecutor once he is back in the country.

It is pertinent to note that should the accused fails to obey the orders of the Public prosecutor or the criminal court, the Ministry of Interior will draft a report on the accused, and the public prosecutor shall take relevant actions on the accused.