A United Arab Emirates court today sentenced two British women to life in prison for charges that include using and trading in drugs.
A 28-year-old British man, Daniel Maalouf, was given also 10-year jail sentence for intending to traffic drugs .
The women, identified as 32-year-old Anna Kidd and 22-year-old Anna Bartlett, were also fined 50,000 dirhams each (£13,623) by the Islamic sharia court in the northern emirate of Ras al-Khaimah, where they were standing trial alongside two other Britons and one Australian.
Kidd had been charged with use and intention to distribute drugs while Bartlett had been charged with possession, use, importation and trafficking.
A life term in UAE sharia courts is equivalent to 25 years in jail. Mohammed al-Kamali, the womens' lawyer, said he would appeal the sentences within 15 days.
"They are lucky they did not get the death penalty," he told reporters after the trial."If they show good behaviour and perform community service, they could only get 10 years." he added.
Mr Kamali said Bartlett and Kidd were found with capsules of pure cocaine, hidden inside their bodies, while in detention.
Wearing face veils and head-to-toe black gowns, the four women huddled together as the judges delivered the verdict to a courtroom that included some family members.
After the sentences were read first in Arabic, and then by a translator, Kidd started crying and reached for her boyfriend and fellow-accused Stacy Simpson, witnesses said.
The accused were arrested in October and November in Ras al-Khaimah and Dubai. They were charged with possession and use of narcotics and smuggling hashish and cocaine to the UAE, where drug trafficking carries a possible death sentence.