Harsh new penalties for illegal immigrants

The UAE said on Tuesday it would impose harsh new penalties on illegal immigrants, including longer prison sentences and increased fines.

“Illegal immigrants, those who smuggle them into the country and those who employ and house them will face a harsher punishment than ever before,” head of Abu Dhabi Judiciary Sultan Saeed Al Badi told UAE daily The National, adding offenders could expect double the current penalties under new reforms.

People violating residency laws would face ongoing problems, which would eventually lead to an increase in crime in the country, Al Badi told The National.

“When you have a segment of society that cannot find employment, cannot care for itself or educate its children and cannot benefit at all from government programmes that improve the quality of life, that segment often turns against the society that it is in.

"This forces that segment to commit different crimes in order to support itself,” he said.

The announcement comes after a Yemeni man was earlier this week fined a record 1.5 million dirhams ($409,000), and sentenced to two months in jail for harbouring 15 illegal immigrants he helped to enter and stay in the UAE.

The 15 will also serve two months in prison before being deported.

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