Drug-Related Offences Of the 173 death sentences recorded between 2011 and 2022, at least 23 of these were for drug-related offences, equating to 13% of death sentences (Amnesty International 2022). It is estimated that this gure could in fact be far higher. Data collected by legal action NGO Reprieve, for example, indicates that just under a third of death sentences in the UAE are imposed for drug-related offences. Furthermore, of those convicted for drug-related offences since 1998, all have been foreign nationals. The most recent execution in 2021 was for a drug-related offence. Case Study 2022 - Fidaa Kiwan fi fi The most recent high-pro le case of a foreign national being sentenced to death was in April 2022 when Israeli fi fi people executed in the UAE, 13 were foreign nationals (three Sri Lankan, three Indian, three stateless, one Pakistani, Somali, Jordanian and Egyptian). These demographics clearly indicate the high risk for foreign nationals receiving the death sentence. Indeed, of the estimated 200 people on death row in the UAE, only 19 are Emirati. Furthermore, eight of the nine women on death row are foreign nationals. Of the estimated 82% of death row inmates that are foreign nationals, two thirds come from the Indian subcontinent (23% from India, 29% from Pakistan and 9% from Bangladesh). woman Fidaa Kiwan was sentenced to death for possession of half a kilogram of cocaine. In July 2022, a successful appeal had her death penalty overturned and Kiwan was instead sentenced to life imprisonment. Death sentences for drug-related offences are frequently overturned and converted into heavy prison sentences. Blood Money So-called ‘blood money’ (diya in Arabic) is the nancial compensation paid to the victim (or victim’s family) in the case of death or injury of a person. Under Islamic law, diya still plays a role in the legal system of the UAE, and death sentences are sometimes commuted to payment of diya, often combined with a prison sentence. In the UAE, it is the government who negotiates the amount liable to be paid in blood-money to the victim’s family. Since 2010, S.P. Singh Oberoi - a Dubaibased Indian businessman - claims to have paid over US$3 million in ‘blood money’ on behalf of 89 Indian adults and youths sentenced to death in the UAE. Knowing that most foreign nationals are unable to afford the nancial compensation required, Oberoi campaigns to pay blood money on their behalf to victims’ families. Oberoi recognised that many Punjabi labourers in the UAE have come from India on visas secured with money loaned from Indian recruitment agents. The low wages they receive in the UAE leave them unable to re-pay their loans, resulting in large interest payments building up.