UAE court sends 17 Indians to prison

Seventeen Indian men, who were spared the death penalty after being convicted of murder last year, have been sentenced to six months in prison by a UAE court on charges of selling alcohol illegally.

At the final hearing of the criminal case on Wednesday, the Sharjah Court of Appeal found the men guilty of the charge.

The men had already been found guilty of killing a Pakistani man during a brawl in Sharjah in 2009 -- a fight prosecutors claimed was part of a bootlegging turf war – but were spared the death sentence after paying blood money to the victim's family last year.

In September last year, the Sharjah Court of Appeal ordered the men to be deported and commuted their sentences to two years.

But prosecutors appealed against the verdict at the Federal Supreme Court, urging it to take into account injuries sustained by three other men during the brawl as well as further charges of possessing and selling alcohol.

In December, the apex court transferred the case back to the appeal court, ordering it to review only the alcohol charges.

The hearing on Wednesday marked the final verdict in the criminal case.