According to the Financial Times: about 20 jailed foreign
businessmen have gone on hunger strike in Dubai to protest against lengthy
sentences for writing checks that bounced, a criminal offence in the United
Arab Emirates.
“I’ve exhausted every avenue that I can see,” Peter
Margetts, 48, a former property developer, told the Financial Times from a
prison pay phone. “I’ve exhausted the legal system, the lawyers have their
hands tied here and they’re not going to rock the boat.”
Mr. Margetts is one of three British prisoners who started a
hunger strike on Sunday. Other jailed businessmen come from Ireland, Saudi
Arabia, Bahrain, Lebanon, India and Pakistan.
Many of the hunger strikers fell victim to Dubai’s
once-thriving real estate market, struggling to meet their payments when boom
turned to bust in 2008. Twelve face sentences of more than 20 years because
each bounced check can translate into a jail term of up to three years…
http://www.cnbc.com/id/47154236
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