Indopedia All Things Marijuana
Due to ongoing global marijuana reform, there are a number of places where people might feel comfortable traveling with cannabis seeds. The United Arab Emirates shouldn’t be one of those places.
In December of last year, an unnamed 34-year-old Austrian man was arrested at the Dubai International Airport after law enforcement found 960 grams of cannabis seeds in his luggage. The man was en route from Afghanistan back to Austria, where the seeds were intended to be for his wife who suffers from different neural diseases.
Instead of bringing the seeds of medicine home to Europe, he was jailed in Dubai. In February, the man was handed a ten-year prison sentence and fined the equivalent of $27,225 USD.
This week, however, must have been the best seven days of his life. The lawyer for the man, Faisal Alzarooni, managed to take the case to the appeals court and was successful in obtaining an acquittal by arguing that the cannabis was meant for medication and there was no criminal intent.
When the man entered his not guilty plea, he added that he was not aware carrying cannabis seeds in transit was against the law.
“My client recently obtained an Austrian citizenship and…
