Overview
The United Arab Emirates (الإمارات العربية المتحدة, al-Imārāt al-ʿArabiyya al-Muttaḥida) are a federation of seven emirates (Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Quwain, Ras al-Khaimah, Fujairah). They have no bilateral extradition treaty with the Federal Republic of Germany. Extradition takes place on a non-treaty basis under Sections 1 ff. IRG and under the Emirati Federal Decree-Law No. 39 of 2006 on International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters as amended by Federal Decree-Law No. 38 of 2023. The UAE are not a party to the European Convention on Extradition (ECE) and are not an EU member; the European Arrest Warrant does not apply.
In practice, the UAE constellation is dominated by economic offenses (bounced-cheque fraud under Art. 401 of the former Federal Penal Code / Art. 461 of Federal Decree-Law 31/2021; money laundering; breaches of sanctions regimes; the Adani/Hindenburg/FCPA context following the US indictment of 20 Nov 2024 with a UAE connection), drug offenses (Federal Drug Law 14/1995 as amended by 30/2021), cyber and data-protection offenses (Federal Decree-Law 34/2021 — Cybercrime Law) and — politically especially sensitive — proceedings for insulting the leadership of the state, undermining internal security and "promoting terrorism" (Federal Law 7/2014 Anti-Terror).
The defense in UAE constellations follows a multi-stage review grid: the conditions for non-treaty extradition under the IRG, reciprocity (Section 5 IRG), the death-penalty reservation (Section 8 IRG), the prohibition of political persecution (Section 6 IRG) and Article 3 ECHR / Section 73 sentence 1 IRG concerning detention conditions in Al-Wathba (Abu Dhabi), Al-Awir (Dubai) and Al-Razeen (a high-security facility for political detainees).
Legal basis
In the absence of any treaty under international law, the Act on International Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (IRG) of 23 Dec 1982 applies directly on the German side. On the Emirati side, the Federal Decree-Law No. 39 of 2006 on International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters as amended by Federal Decree-Law No. 38 of 2023 is decisive, supplemented by the Federal Penal Code (Federal Decree-Law No. 31 of 2021 — the recodified criminal-law basis effective 2 Jan 2022, replacing the former Federal Law No. 3 of 1987), the Federal Criminal Procedure Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 38 of 2022) as well as the Federal Anti-Terror Law No. 7 of 2014 and the Federal Cybercrime Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 34 of 2021).
For German citizens, Article 16(2) of the Basic Law in conjunction with Section 80 IRG remains a bar; the extradition of Germans to the United Arab Emirates is not admissible. For German-Emirati dual nationals this bar continues to apply (cf. BVerfGE 113, 273 — European Arrest Warrant I).
The central authority on the Emirati side is the Ministry of Justice in Abu Dhabi (International Mutual Legal Assistance Department), together with the federal General Public Prosecutor's Office (Niyaba ʿĀmma). The domestic extradition procedure is conducted before the federal appellate courts (Federal Court of Appeal) or — for the non-federal emirates Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Ras al-Khaimah — before the respective local courts, with cassation before the federal or local Court of Cassation. On the German side, the Higher Regional Courts decide in the admissibility proceedings (Sections 13 ff. IRG); the granting decision is made by the General Public Prosecutor's Offices, and on questions of principle by the Federal Office of Justice.
Decisive under Section 3 IRG is the requirement of dual criminality: the offense must carry, under German law, a maximum custodial sentence of more than one year; in the case of enforcement, at least four months of remaining sentence (Section 3(2) IRG). Political offenses, military offenses and purely fiscal offenses are subject to Sections 6, 7 IRG.
Country-specific issues in the United Arab Emirates
The Sharia component in the Federal Penal Code 31/2021: The recodified penal code expressly retains in Art. 1 the applicability of Sharia for Hudud offenses (divinely fixed punishments for theft, apostasy, fornication, defamation, alcohol consumption, highway robbery) and Qisas offenses (retaliatory punishments for murder, grievous bodily harm) among Muslims. The formally prescribed punishments include, among others, stoning for adultery (Art. 1 in conjunction with Sharia), amputation for theft, and flogging for fornication and alcohol consumption. The actual enforcement of these punishments is rarely documented in the UAE, but remains formally possible. The reforms of 2020/2021 (a personal-status reform for non-Muslims, the decriminalization of extramarital sexual relations among non-Muslims) have narrowed the scope of application in places, but do not alter the underlying system. Where a Muslim requested person is to be extradited to the UAE, the application of Sharia must be examined in depth as an independent bar to extradition (Section 73 sentence 1 IRG in conjunction with Articles 3, 6, 7 ECHR).
The death penalty — formally retained, executions again documented in 2025: The Federal Penal Code provides for the death penalty for murder (Art. 332), terrorist offenses (Federal Law 7/2014), drug trafficking above certain quantities (Federal Drug Law), rape and others. Enforcement is by firing squad or, in the case of Qisas, in the forms provided for by Sharia law. After years of a de-facto moratorium (with isolated executions), Amnesty International's 2025 report documents several executions in the UAE; the UAE are listed among the executing states in Amnesty's 2025 death-penalty report. Where the charges are relevant, a sufficient assurance within the meaning of Section 8 IRG must mandatorily be obtained in the extradition proceedings.
Debt imprisonment and bounced-cheque fraud: Until the 2022 reform, an uncovered cheque was punishable by a custodial sentence under Art. 401 of the former Federal Penal Code; the reform by Federal Decree-Law 14/2020 (in force 2 Jan 2022) largely decriminalized the uncovered cheque and transferred it into a civil enforcement regime. For amounts above AED 200,000 the offense remains punishable (Art. 461 Federal Decree-Law 31/2021). The Cassazione penale italiana refused, in Cass. Pen., sez. VI, n. 17172 of 30 Mar 2016, the extradition for cheque fraud to the UAE on account of the absence of mirror-image criminality; the methodological line is transferable to German proceedings. In economic criminal matters, dual criminality must be examined with particular care under Section 3 IRG.
The Anti-Terror and Cybercrime complex: Federal Law 7/2014 (Anti-Terror) and Federal Decree-Law 34/2021 (Cybercrime) define very broad offenses, covering among other things "insulting the state" online, "spreading rumors" and "supporting terrorist organizations". Sentencing range: custodial sentences from 5 years to life, and, in connection with murder or an attack, up to the death penalty. Proceedings against human-rights defenders (Ahmed Mansoor — UA84/8 — 10 years' imprisonment since 2017) and against the "UAE-94" group (2013) are documented. In relevant constellations, Section 6 IRG (political persecution) is decisive.
The Adani/FCPA/Hindenburg context: The US indictment of 20 Nov 2024 before the Eastern District of New York against representatives of the Adani Group (FCPA — Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, securities and wire fraud) touches on UAE structures and off-shore constellations via Dubai. In German defense practice, three- or four-way constellations may arise (DE/USA/IND/UAE) with complex double-jeopardy (ne bis in idem) argumentation under Section 9 IRG.
Detention conditions and the human-rights review
The Emirati prison system is administered by the respective emirate police authorities (in Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi Police; in Dubai: Dubai Police General Department of Punitive and Correctional Establishments). The central facilities are Al-Wathba (Abu Dhabi, around 14,000 detainees, mixed), Al-Awir Central Prison (Dubai, likewise in the order of several thousand detainees) and Al-Razeen (a high-security facility in the desert of Abu Dhabi, built in 2014, for political detainees, those convicted of terrorism and high-risk foreign inmates).
Detention conditions are inconsistent and problematic in the political sphere: in the general system there are — unlike in Egypt or Thailand — comparatively modern facilities with air conditioning. In the political sphere, in particular in Al-Razeen, Amnesty International (annual reports 2021–2025), Human Rights Watch (reports on UAE-94 and Mansoor), the Emirates Detainees Advocacy Centre (EDAC) and the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) document solitary confinement lasting years, the denial of family and lawyer visits, the lack of medical care (in particular for the chronically ill), and the arbitrary extension of detention beyond the term of the sentence (so-called munasaha or "counselling" measures involving years of subsequent internment). Torture by the security services during the investigative phase is repeatedly documented (including by the UN Special Rapporteur, CAT).
From German case law it follows: in an extradition to the UAE, the Aranyosi review (ECJ C-404/15) is to be applied by analogy. A diplomatic assurance of placement in a named facility, with monitoring by the German Embassy in Abu Dhabi (responsible for the entire UAE), must regularly be required; in its travel advice the Federal Foreign Office points to recurring consular complications (delayed consular access, passport retention, a travel ban during ongoing proceedings). Pre-trial detention may extend under Art. 95 ff. of the Federal Criminal Procedure Law (Federal Decree-Law 38/2022); in Anti-Terror proceedings the munasaha internment as an additional phase of enforcement after completion of the sentence is problematic.
Consular assistance is provided through the German Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Consulate General in Dubai on the basis of the VCCR of 24 Apr 1963; the UAE ratified the VCCR in 1977.
Lines of defense
The defense in UAE extradition proceedings regularly has strong prospects of success, provided it is structured by a lawyer at an early stage. Review grid:
- Article 16(2) of the Basic Law in conjunction with Section 80 IRG (extradition of Germans): excluded where there is German citizenship; for German-Emirati dual nationals it continues to act as a bar.
- Section 6 IRG (political offense / political persecution): decisive in cases of Anti-Terror Law 7/2014, Cybercrime Decree-Law 34/2021 or "insulting the state" charges. Submission of the UAE-94 line (2013) and the Mansoor constellation (UA84/8) is required.
- Section 8 IRG (death penalty): in murder, drug, terrorism or rape constellations, obtain a written assurance of non-imposition/non-enforcement — in light of Amnesty's 2025 report on the resumption of executions, the reliability of such assurances must be examined critically.
- Section 73 sentence 1 IRG in conjunction with Article 3 ECHR (detention conditions): introduce reports by Amnesty, HRW, EDAC, GCHR and the CAT; where there is assignment to Al-Razeen, advance the solitary-confinement argument. Submit munasaha subsequent internment as an independent bar to extradition (open-ended internment after completion of the sentence).
- Section 73 sentence 1 IRG in conjunction with Articles 3, 6, 7 ECHR (Sharia punishments): for Muslim requested persons and Sharia-relevant offenses (Hudud/Qisas), obtain an explicit assurance of the non-application of Sharia punishments (stoning, flogging, amputation).
- Section 73 sentence 1 IRG in conjunction with "intolerably harsh" (BVerfGE 75, 1; 113, 154): where the maximum drug penalties threaten (life/death penalty above threshold quantities), a proportionality challenge.
- Section 3 IRG (dual criminality) — bounced-cheque fraud: in economic offenses, rely on Cass. Pen., sez. VI, n. 17172 of 30 Mar 2016 as a methodological yardstick; the reform by Federal Decree-Law 14/2020 (decriminalization of cheque fraud up to AED 200,000) leads to mirror-image deficits.
- Section 9 IRG (double jeopardy, ne bis in idem): in parallel investigations DE/USA/IND/UAE — in particular in the Adani/FCPA complex — argumentation oriented toward the bar effect.
- Section 11 IRG (rule of specialty): obtain a written assurance of absolute specialty; especially important given the broad Anti-Terror and Cybercrime offenses.
- Section 16 IRG (provisional extradition detention): can be ordered already on the basis of an Emirati Interpol Red Notice — early assumption of the mandate, a CCF application in Lyon for politically connoted notices. In recent years the UAE have more frequently obtained Red Notices over commercial disputes; the CCF has in part deleted such notices.
- Constitutional complaint with an urgent application (Section 32 BVerfGG): where the detention-conditions, Section 6 IRG or Sharia challenge is carefully prepared, the prospects of success in the UAE constellation are high.
- The travel-ban complex (travel ban) on personal travel: during ongoing UAE civil or criminal proceedings, travel bans are regularly ordered — even without an arrest — on the plaintiff's application; clients must be warned before traveling to Dubai/Abu Dhabi.
Legal representation in UAE extradition proceedings
An extradition case is a specialized mutual-legal-assistance procedure that goes beyond classic criminal defense. Engaging a defense lawyer specialized in extradition law at an early stage is regularly decisive — not only after the formal extradition arrest warrant has been issued, but already from the moment of an arrest based on an Interpol notice, an SIS alert or a European Arrest Warrant.
As a Certified Specialist in Criminal Law with a focus on extradition law, I advise and represent affected persons nationwide before the competent Higher Regional Courts and in constitutional complaint proceedings before the Federal Constitutional Court.