Passports no longer needed for bail in Dubai
passports are held annually as guarantee at the prosecution
dubai — Residents and visitors, who have been accused, in the middle of a case or bailed, will no longer have to surrender their passports to Dubai authorities, thanks to an electronic system that has been introduced by the Dubai Public Prosecution.
The initiative, ‘Smart Bail’, will ensure that all the information on the person is stored electronically and the police or prosecution will not be required to hold their passports anymore. Relatives or friends of the person will also not be required to keep their passports as a replacement. The Public Prosecution displayed the new initiative at the Dubai International Government Achievements Exhibition on Wednesday.
For several years, anyone in Dubai, who was accused or needed bail, required to surrender their passport as a guarantee that they will not leave the country and will attend any investigations or trials related to the case.
Ali Humaid Al Khatim, advocategeneral and chief prosecutor of Immigration at the Public Prosecution, told Khaleej Times that this initiative will help the department become more smart.
“We had the old system for a long time. Each year, we had more than 50,000 passports on hold as a guarantee that they would be present at upcoming trials and investigations. It’s a big problem for us because they always require their passport back temporarily for renewal of passport or visa,” he said.
“Now, we have an electronic system with the police, so, every accused person is in our system. He or she will not be able to travel out of the country if the electronic order has been issued. We don’t want to keep the person’s or anyone else’s passport anymore as a guarantee because electronic system will have all of his or her data that will stop him from going out of the country.
Now, we just put their name in the system and they don’t have to be in jail without any guarantee, except the electronic guarantee.” Ali Humaid Al Khatim, advocate-general and chief prosecutor of Immigration at the Public Prosecution
“This will also help the person do any kind of legal work that is required to do with the passport, for example, renewing the visa. But, he or she still will not be able to travel out of the country.” Al Khatim said that this move will also help in reducing the number of people in prison.
In the old system, anyone who couldn’t surrender their passport, were kept in jail. However, that will change with the implementation of Smart Bail. “We need to reduce the number of people in prisons. Now, we just put their name in the system and they don’t have to be in jail without any guarantee, except the electronic guarantee,” he said.
Smart Bail has been rolled out and implemented in one police station. “The next step is to introduce the electronic guarantee across all police stations in Dubai.”
sarwat@khaleejtimes.com
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