A PROMINENT lawyer sentenced to 12 months behind bars for inciting witnesses to give false statements in court under oath has lost her appeal.
Fatima Al Hawaj was earlier found guilty of telling witnesses to fabricate their statements before judges hearing a dispute over a will at the High Civil Court.
Two witnesses involved in the civil case received a 12-month jail sentence by the Lower Criminal Court in October and a third person six months in connection with the same offence.
All the accused lodged appeals against their convictions at the High Criminal Appeals Court, which was rejected yesterday.
“The defendants lost their appeals due to sufficient evidence against them,” read the appeal ruling.
“The lawyer told her co-defendants to fabricate their testimony,” read the appeal court ruling.
“She denied the charges in an attempt to evade punishment. However, some of her co-defendants’ statements showed that she informed them exactly what to say to judges before the hearing.
“Due to them giving false statements the court ruled in favour of the lawyer’s clients.”
The incident came to light when one of the witnesses informed the authorities that he had changed his initial testimony after she incited him to give a false statement.
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