UAE: DEATH PENALTY FOR 17 INDIANS IN UAE

March 29, 2010: a court in the United Arab Emirates sentenced 17 Indian nationals to death for killing a Pakistani man after a dispute over control of an illegal alcohol business.
The Pakistani man was stabbed repeatedly in Sharjah in January 2009. Other surviving Pakistani victims were able to identify the suspects.
Correspondents said gang violence connected to illicit alcohol is on the increase in the UAE, where the sale of such drink is controlled.
Reports said this could be the highest number of death sentences handed down at one time in the Emirates.
Sharjah, an Emirate just north of Dubai, has the toughest restrictions on the sale of alcohol of all the Emirates - it is completely banned there. (Sources: BBC, 29/03/2010)