Criminal
A 2021 penal code overhaul, with sharia retained for some offences
Federal Decree-Law 31 of 2021 replaced the 1987 Penal Code and decriminalised consensual extramarital relations and alcohol consumption, while retaining sharia principles for certain categories.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Federal criminal courts and the local criminal courts of Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah. The DIFC and ADGM have no criminal jurisdiction.
- Deadline — 48 hours for police to refer a detainee to the public prosecutor
- Deadline — 15 days to appeal a misdemeanour conviction
Governing law
- Penal Code, Federal Decree-Law 31 of 2021
- Criminal Procedure Law, Federal Decree-Law 38 of 2022
- Cybercrime Law, Federal Decree-Law 34 of 2021
In practice
The 2021 reforms were substantial and widely misreported in both directions. Consensual extramarital relations and alcohol consumption by adults were decriminalised, but public indecency, defamation and a broad set of cybercrime offences remain and are actively prosecuted, and the cybercrime law reaches social media content in ways visitors routinely underestimate. Blood money and the victim's role survive in homicide cases. The free zones' lack of criminal jurisdiction is important: a common-law contract in the DIFC does not carry a common-law criminal environment with it.