Dubai tenant complains against 'forceful eviction, harmful thugs'

A landlord's brother and his friends threatened a tenant to leave his office and apartment or face 'harmful thugs' from Syria, a Dubai court hears.
The tenant, a 41-year-old from Egypt, said there had been some disputes with his Syrian landlord and his brother, which worsened after his tenancy contract was extended.
He told the prosecutors that the landlord's brother intimidated him and said if he did not evict the office and the apartment he had leased from them, they would seek thugs from their country to harm him.
The defendants have been charged in the Court of First Instance for allegedly robbing a tenant's office and intimidating him.
The landlord's 38-year-old brother was accused of making criminal threats against the tenant. He was also charged together with an engineer, 31, of breaking into the complainant's office in Dubai Marina and robbing it.
Another man (a public relations manager) was charged with criminal complicity.
The three Syrian men were not present in the Court of First Instance.
The cases dates back to and prior to April 2015.
The complainant had leased an office and an apartment in a tower in the Dubai Marina from the brother of one of the defendants.
He was in front of the tower together with his family when he was allegedly threatened by the accused. The latter told him he should evict within a couple of weeks or he would be harmed by thugs.
In April last year, his office was totally robbed at dawn. He claimed the air conditioning was disconnected in his house after he complained about the robbery. He was also not allowed to use the tower's parking space.
A Bangladeshi security guard testified that one of the defendants (the engineer), informed him at 3 am about a sewage burst pipe. It was the same night the complainant's office was robbed.
"When I came back he was gone. I learnt in the morning that the office had been robbed."
A ruling is expected on October 9.
mary@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai