Guide · updated 16.10.2026 · 11 min read · Lucent Legal team

Criminal court in the UAE: hearings, judgments in absentia, appeal and cassation

You can challenge a criminal judgment in the UAE, but the clock runs in days. The law gives you 7 days to object to a judgment in absentia, 15 days to appeal and 30 days for cassation. Miss the deadline and you have almost nothing left to argue with.

Which court hears your case

A case reaches court after the Public Prosecution. The prosecutor drafts the charges and sends the file to the court of first instance. The full route from arrest onwards is in our hub on UAE criminal law.

Article 193 of Law 38/2022 sets up two kinds of criminal panels:

• A three-judge panel hears major offences (felonies).
• A single judge hears minor ones.

Misdemeanours and infractions go to a separate misdemeanour court. Dubai runs its own local courts: first instance, appeal and cassation all sit within Dubai Courts.

What happens at the hearing

The law sets the order. The court reads out the charges. The prosecutor and the other parties make their statements. The court hears witnesses if it needs to, then rules.

Investigations and trials run in Arabic. If you don't speak it, the court brings in an interpreter (Article 8). Ask for one at the prosecution interview and in court.

The court can appoint a lawyer for you, and the state then pays the fee under the Ministry of Justice schedule (Article 196). An appointed lawyer must attend or send a substitute. If not, the court can fine them up to AED 1,000 (Article 195).

The court can order your arrest or remand at any stage. It can also release you on a personal guarantee or bail (Article 198). Our guide to bail in the UAE covers how that works.

A prosecutor's order instead of a trial

Some minor cases never reach a courtroom. The prosecutor issues a criminal order and imposes a fine, capped at half the maximum for that offence (Article 339).

Criminal orders cover misdemeanours and infractions with no mandatory jail term. They exclude qisas and diya cases, state security offences, and offences where the law prescribes banishment (Article 338).

If you disagree, object to the Public Prosecution within 7 days. The clock starts on the issue date if you were present, or on the date you were served if you weren't. Your objection cancels the order, and the case goes through the normal process (Article 342). If you pay the fine, the order becomes final (Article 343).

Judgment in absentia: what it means and how to challenge it

If you skip a hearing after proper notice, and no lawyer appears for you where the law allows one, the court decides without you (Article 190). This is how most people who left the UAE end up with a conviction.

If you live abroad, the court serves the notice at your known address at least one month before the hearing. If service fails, the court can still rule in absentia (Article 201).

Authorities enforce a judgment in absentia as soon as the court issues it (Article 203). That is where the travel ban and the alert at the border come from.

Misdemeanour or infraction. File an opposition within 7 days of being notified of the judgment. You lodge it with the criminal clerks of the Public Prosecution in the court's area. The court hears the case again, and your sentence cannot get harsher. If you miss the first opposition hearing, the court voids the opposition and you lose the right to challenge that judgment (Article 229).

Felony. No opposition here. If the person convicted in absentia appears or is arrested, the court rehears the case (Article 204).

Appeal: 15 days from pronouncement

Both the defendant and the Public Prosecution can appeal a first-instance judgment (Article 230). Article 234 sets the rules:

1. File the appeal with the criminal clerk's office within 15 days.
2. The 15 days start on the day the court pronounces a judgment in the parties' presence, or on the date of the ruling on your opposition.
3. If you are in prison, give the appeal to the prison director, who must pass it to the clerk's office straight away.
4. The Attorney General can appeal any judgment within 30 days of its date.

One special case: a judgment "deemed in presence". Say you attended the first hearing and then stopped coming. Your appeal period then starts on the date the court serves you with the judgment (Article 235).

The clerk writes the appeal hearing date on your statement of appeal. That counts as notice, even when your lawyer filed it (Article 236).

What you risk by appealing

If only you appeal, the court can change the judgment only in your favour (Article 241). If the prosecution appeals too, the sentence can go up. The appeal court can overturn an acquittal on a prosecution appeal only by a unanimous vote.

The Court of Appeal can hear witnesses itself and order further investigation (Article 239).

Watch for one trap. If you got a custodial sentence and don't surrender to serve it before the appeal hearing, your appeal lapses (Article 238). If you were out on bail, the Court of Appeal can keep you free until it rules, on an undertaking or other security (Article 234).

Pausing the sentence

An appeal does not stop enforcement on its own. The Court of Appeal can order a stay on whatever conditions it sets (Article 230). The only automatic stay applies to a death sentence, which the law treats as appealed.

An objection to enforcement doesn't pause the sentence either. The court can order a stay until it decides the objection (Article 281).

Cassation: 30 days, points of law only

Cassation comes after the appeal. The court does not re-examine the facts. Article 244 lists the grounds:

• the judgment breaks, misapplies or misreads the law;
• the judgment or the procedure is invalid;
• the judgment gives no reasons, or vague ones;
• two contradictory judgments cover the same incident.

Under Article 245, you file a petition with your grounds within 30 days of the appeal judgment. If the judgment was "deemed in presence", the 30 days start on the date of service. Unless the prosecution files it, a lawyer admitted before the Court of Cassation must sign the petition.

You pay a AED 1,000 security deposit to the court treasury (Article 247). The prosecution doesn't pay it, and neither does anyone sentenced to prison or death.

The Court of Cassation usually decides on the papers, without oral argument (Article 248). It overturns only the parts of the judgment you challenged (Article 251).

Deportation in a sentence

A court orders deportation as part of a sentence under Article 126 of the Penal Code, Federal Decree-Law No. 31 of 2021. It is mandatory for a felony conviction with a prison term. For misdemeanours the court decides.

There is no separate challenge to the deportation part. You raise it in the same appeal, within the same 15 days. If the appeal court changes the charge or quashes the conviction, it reviews the deportation too. Our UAE deportation guide explains how judicial and administrative deportation differ.

How to check the judgment online

Dubai cases show up on the Dubai Courts portal and app (dc.gov.ae). You search by case number and year. Other emirates have their own systems: Estafser from ADJD in Abu Dhabi, and the Ministry of Justice portal for federal courts. Step-by-step instructions are in our guide on checking a court case in the UAE.

No case number yet? Start with Dubai Police and the prosecution. The guide on how to check if you have a case in the UAE walks through it.

What to do right now

1. Find out the judgment date and how the court issued it: in your presence, in absentia, or "deemed in presence". That decides your deadline.
2. Count the days. Opposition: 7. Appeal: 15. Cassation: 30.
3. Get a copy of the judgment and the case file.
4. Decide who files. You can lodge an appeal yourself at the clerk's office or through the prison. Cassation needs a signature from an admitted lawyer.
5. If the other side is open to settling, work on that in parallel. Our guide on closing a criminal case in the UAE covers reconciliation.

Lucent Legal is a consultancy (DET licence No. 1192929). We review the judgment, count your deadlines and prepare the position. In the criminal court and before the prosecution, a UAE-licensed partner advocate represents you. Nobody can promise an outcome, and we don't.

Topic: UAE Criminal Law 2026

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This material is for information only and is not legal advice. UAE law changes — a lawyer will assess how it applies to your situation.