ABU DHABI // Mohammed Agha stood in front of three judges presiding over a theft case and told them, clearly and assertively: “I am innocent, I did not do that.”
He stressed he was present at a construction site by accident when police arrested his colleagues on suspicion of stealing cables and selling them on the black market.
But he is not the defendant. His words are not his own. He is a court translator.
Mr Agha, 56, is one of 53 experts brought into the court to bolster the ranks of skilled linguists, who must ensure accurate communication between judge and defendant. In addition to language, officials say, they must also understand the legal environment.
The department’s translators come from cultural and linguistic backgrounds that match the demands of the culturally diverse city of Abu Dhabi.
As a group, they speak Arabic, English, Urdu, Russian, Farsi, Nepalese, Bengali, Tagalog, Pashto, Malay, Indonesian, Mandarin, Malayalam, Sinhala, Tamil, Oromo and Amharic.
Mr Agha said he worked in the first-person form because he believed it conveyed more effectively the essence of the accused’s defence.
“A court translator is an original member of the judiciary,” said Mr Agha, who translates for the Abu Dhabi Court of Misdemeanours. “He speaks on behalf of the judges and the defendants.”
Even a minor error by a court translator, several translators pointed out, could mean additional prison time for a defendant. In 2008, for example, a Sudanese judge in Sharjah adjourned the hearing of Shahid King Bolsen, an American charged with murder, after the English-to-Arabic translator said Bolsen pleaded guilty to first degree murder. The judge, who was fluent in English, understood Bolsen was in fact pleading guilty to accidentally killing a man.
Abdullah Mohammed, 25, a translator for Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance, last week checked with a witness several times as to whether his testimony meant a defendant had criminal intent or whether it was merely the witness’s impression.
“It would make a lot of difference [to the court] if you mean to say the defendant knew the documents were forged or that is just your impression,” Mr Mohammed explained.
In an interview, he offered another example, saying there was a significant difference between pleading guilty to attempting to steal cables and stealing cables.
“If the defendant is arrested while he is carrying the cables with the intent to take them away and later benefit from them, that is considered attempted theft,” Mr Mohammed said.
“If he is arrested after he has already taken them away, then that is theft and the punishment would of course be tougher.”
Translators are often tasked with moderating court proceedings if defendants digress instead of entering a plea.
Another issue a translator should be aware of, he said, was that defendants often did not know the meaning of legal terms and might confess to a charge unwittingly. A translator should simplify the term for a defendant and translate its meaning rather than restate the technical term.
“I would translate the definition of the legal term rather than the term itself,” Mr Mohammed said.
In a recent case, an Emirati woman charged with consensual sex after a man blackmailed her into the act said she confessed to “consensual sex” until her lawyer explained the meaning to her.
She then said she was coerced and had unwittingly confessed to consensual sex before prosecutors without understanding the term.
Mr Mohammed said in a case where a defendant spoke a language in which he was not fluent, he would ask for another interpreter to take over.
hhassan@thenational.ae
PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Infobox
Western Region Asia Cup Qualifier, Al Amerat, Oman
The two finalists advance to the next stage of qualifying, in Malaysia in August
Results
UAE beat Iran by 10 wickets
Kuwait beat Saudi Arabia by eight wickets
Oman beat Bahrain by nine wickets
Qatar beat Maldives by 106 runs
Monday fixtures
UAE v Kuwait, Iran v Saudi Arabia, Oman v Qatar, Maldives v Bahrain
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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Keep it fun and engaging
Stuart Ritchie, director of wealth advice at AES International, says children cannot learn something overnight, so it helps to have a fun routine that keeps them engaged and interested.
“I explain to my daughter that the money I draw from an ATM or the money on my bank card doesn’t just magically appear – it’s money I have earned from my job. I show her how this works by giving her little chores around the house so she can earn pocket money,” says Mr Ritchie.
His daughter is allowed to spend half of her pocket money, while the other half goes into a bank account. When this money hits a certain milestone, Mr Ritchie rewards his daughter with a small lump sum.
He also recommends books that teach the importance of money management for children, such as The Squirrel Manifesto by Ric Edelman and Jean Edelman.
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
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Results
Stage 5:
1. Jonas Vingegaard (DEN) Team Jumbo-Visma 04:19:08
2. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates 00:00:03
3. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers
4. Sergio Higuita (COL) EF Education-Nippo 00:00:05
5. Joao Almeida (POR) Deceuninck-QuickStep 00:00:06
General Classification:
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates 17:09:26
2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers 00:00:45
3. Joao Almeida (POR) Deceuninck-QuickStep 00:01:12
4. Chris Harper (AUS) Team Jumbo-Visma 00:01:54
5. Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education-Nippo 00:01:56
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
FROM%20THE%20ASHES
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Khalid%20Fahad%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%20Shaima%20Al%20Tayeb%2C%20Wafa%20Muhamad%2C%20Hamss%20Bandar%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Richard Jewell
Director: Clint Eastwood
Stars: Paul Walter Hauser, Sam Rockwell, Brandon Stanley
Two-and-a-half out of five stars
