Pair jailed for supplying ambulance

7 Days
Thursday, July 05, 2012

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Two men have been locked up for three years for supplying an ambulance and medical equipment to an extremist group in Somalia.

A third defendant was deported back to his native Sudan while a fourth, a forensics doctor, was acquitted of the terror charge but convicted of possessing of an air rifle. He has been freed because of time already served.

All the cases rose following the sale of the ambulance by a Sharjah-based medical supply firm that has been selling medical equipment in Africa for years.

The director of the company, who was one of the two men jailed, arranged the sale, although he denied knowing the ambulance would be used by Al Shabbab in Somalia, which the US considers a terror organisation.

His lawyer had argued before the UAE National Security Court that selling medical equipment is not a crime under UAE law.

His 25-year-old co-accused was jailed for three years for his part, which was earning a commission on the sale. The deported defendant was a former business partner who was also involved in sending medical equipment from Sharjah to Africa.

The freed doctor, Mohammad Ali El Hassan, 43, from Sudan, will be allowed to stay in the UAE. El Hassan, a forensics specialist, was found not guilty of exporting an ambulance and IV drips to the Somalian group, more formally known as Al Shabaab Al Mujahideen.

His brother, Tariq, who attended the trial, said: “We are a medical family, we are interested in helping people.”

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