Dubai: Eighteen inmates charged with premeditatedly murdering a fellow inmate in August 2012 were on Monday acquitted by Dubai’s highest court.

The ruling is final.

Prosecutors had sought capital punishment for all the accused.

The Courts of First Instance and Appeal had already acquitted the inmates due to the weakness of the evidence and inconsistency in witnesses’ statements.

The Dubai Cassation Court’s presiding judge Abdul Aziz Abdullah rejected prosecutors’ appeal to overturn the acquittal and refer the case by to the appellate court to be handled by a new judges’ panel.

The inmates were accused of killing 43-year-old Emirati inmate, Ayoub A.Y., who died after he was stabbed him 37 times.

According to records, Ayoub had his ear cut off, finger chopped off, and neck, back, stomach and shoulder slashed in what prosecutors described as a “vengeance attack”.

In the case that created media frenzy, presiding judge Abdullah acquitted the accused in the presence of prosecutor Walid Mohammad and senior secretary Jamil Mahdi.

According to Monday’s ruling, the Cassation Court (in its capacity as a court that looks into the technicalities pertaining to legal procedures) decided that law enforcement procedures were carried out properly and did not require overturning the appellate judgement and referring the case back to the lower court for a fresh trial.

The 18 inmates comprised 14 Emiratis, a Ukrainian, an Uzbek, a Pakistani and an Afghan.

Two Emirati brothers — 35-year-old R.S. and M.S. — and 30-year-old A.G. and his elder brother R.G., were believed to have led the deadly attack.

Five other inmates were also cleared of attempting to murder R.S. due to lack of evidence.

All the suspects entered a not guilty plea.

Prosecutors charged the inmates with planning the murder and using sharp tools, a mop and a tray to attack Ayoub.

Court records said some of the defendants surrounded the victim and the attackers to prevent other inmates from defending or intervening to stop the fight that lasted nearly 15 minutes, according to witnesses.

Prosecutors said the deadly attack was preceded by a group fight between a separate group of five inmates (two Russians, a Georgian, an Uzbek and a Kyrgyz) who scuffled with another group from the 18 inmates.

The five inmates were charged with attempting to murder R.S.

The deceased was serving a three-year jail term after he was convicted (along with others) of chopping off R.G.’s little finger with a cleaver.

Witnesses said R.G. led the act of vengeance along with his brother and the other Emirati brothers (R.S. and M.S.) using trays, mop handles and brooms as weapons during the attack.

R.M. used a tray to slice off the victim’s ear and stab him in different parts of his body.

Witnesses also claimed that they overheard several of the defendants saying that R.G. had vowed not to forgive Ayoub for chopping off his finger and decided to take revenge by chopping off any of the victim’s organs.