On Sunday, a man who has been accused of killing his girlfriend was granted a reduction in his jail term.
The man - who is of Lebanese origins - was sentenced to life imprisonment in March after killing his Vietnamese girlfriend in 2017 following a financial dispute.
However, the man pleaded "not guilty" and appealed the decision. On Sunday, the Dubai Appeal Court overturned the life sentence and reduced it to seven years "on grounds of leniency".
The ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 30 days.
This came months after The Dubai Court of First Instance gave the 31-year-old man a life sentence on charges of "premeditated murder" as well as theft.
The man will be deported after serving his jail term, said Eisa Al Sharif, the presiding judge on the case, according to Gulf News.
During the trial, a police lieutenant testified that the "defendant was the last person seen entering her flat, on the building's CCTV cameras," according to Gulf News.
"He admitted during questioning that he had lent her [his girlfriend] 70,000 dirhams [$19,000] to buy a flat in her country and open a spa, after she had promised to enroll him as a partner," the lieutenant said.
However, upon discovering that she did not, the man got angry and "strangled her to death".
Not the first case of its kind
In April, a UAE-based man fled the country after killing and burying his wife in her home in Sharjah's Maysaloon area.
UAE authorities filed for an arrest warrant against him with Interpol soon after the victim's body was discovered.
In many cases around the Arab world, women are physically abused and killed, with many going unreported due to social norms and stigmas.
In July, a UAE-based woman filed a lawsuit against her husband of four years and asked for a divorce after suffering years of abuse and starvation.
That same month, a Lebanese man in Dubai was arrested on suspicion of killing a woman - his alleged girlfriend - within 18 hours of the crime.
The two were said to have been caught in a personal dispute, which involved a controversial Facebook comment the woman had posted, according to Gulf News.