The sentences marked the highest number of death penalties handed down at one time in the emirate, The National cited court officials as saying.

DUBAI: Seventeen Indian nationals have been sentenced to death for killing a Pakistani man in a turf dispute between bootleg liquor gangs in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, local media reported on Monday.
The Pakistani man was beaten to death with metal bars in January 2009, while three others were injured in the attack, The National newspaper reported.

It said the dispute was between members of rival gangs vying to sell illegal liquor to labourers in the Al-Sajaa area of Sharjah.

The sentences marked the highest number of death penalties handed down at one time in the emirate, The National cited court officials as saying.

Local media said that up to 50 people were involved in the attack, but those sentenced to death were found to have been the leaders.

Death sentences are usually commuted to life in prison in Sharjah.

Alcohol is banned in the emirate, which lies north of Dubai, where liquor can be sold by bars and restaurants with special permits.

However, Dubai has also witnessed bootlegging violence.

The National reported in February that 13 members of an alleged bootlegging gang from the Jebel Ali area were accused of kidnapping two rivals, raping them and burying them alive.