A group of Dubai’s businessmen launched a hunger strike against keeping them in jail because of unpaid debts, The Financial Times reported. Twelve inmates from India, Pakistan, and the Gulf have started starving. Even more people are expected to join them. The 12 have been sent to jail for several years. They have written to public prosecutors to complain of their sentences. In debtors’ opinion, it is a result of improper application of the law.
According to the letter, about 500 expatriate prisoners remain in jail on debt-related crimes. At the same time, judges do not take into consideration the circumstances surrounding a default.
The strikers believe they will be allowed out of the jail and they will be able to recover the receivables they have so that they can pay back the debts.
Debt evasion is a criminal offence in the UAE. Attempts to change the system usually meet resistance of the banks which prefer to be provided with leverage against borrowers. Creditors declare that in case of decriminalisation debtors are likely to leave the state.
About 1,500 local prisoners were released from prisons across the UAE. At the same time, expatriate prisoners stayed locked. Expatriates are 75% of the country’s population.
The UAE government has launched a credit bureau to present banks with better intelligence on prospective borrowers’ credit profile, a prerequisite for any attempt to make debt a civil, rather than criminal, offence.
