THE DANGERS OF DUBAI
Scottish tourist faced months in prison for patting a man’s butt one night in a bar
The criminal offence happened as Jamie Harron was weaving through a Dubai bar in July, balancing a drink — his transgression so small that the British national didn’t know he’d committed a crime until he was almost in handcuffs.
Harron had lost his balance and grabbed a man’s shoulder to keep himself and his drink upright, according to The Associated Press. Apologetically, he claims, he patted the man on his behind.
But it was not over. Police were called. Harron was arrested and was well on his way to being featured in the latest anecdote about just how different things are in Dubai.
Harron, an electrician from Stirling, Scotland, was travelling to Afghanistan for a new job. But what was supposed to be a relaxing two-day layover in Dubai, on the western edge of the Persian Gulf — he’d snapped photos of himself swimming in the gulf and standing in front of a skyscraper — morphed into a months-long legal battle as Harron was tried, then convicted of sexual assault. He was also accused of raising his middle finger to his accuser as police were en route to the bar.
Harron’s ordeal ended Monday, when the ruler of Dubai, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Maktoum, nullified Harron’s conviction and the three-month jail sentence, The Associated Press reported. Harron was called to the police station — a summons he briefly feared was a trap — and handed his passport, free to leave the emirate whenever he wanted.
While navigating the legal maze, he’d lost his job and accumulated more than $40,000 in legal and other expenses.
“I’ve lost my job, I’m in debt now, I may be going to prison, and all this for a two-day stopover,” he told the Independent newspaper.
“The whole thing is like a horrible dream and I just don’t know when it is going to end. I thought it would be over by now, but it feels like it will never be.”
An aid group that assisted Harron in Dubai applauded the ruler’s move but said the incident illustrates systemic problems in the United Arab Emirates.
“Of course, a fully functional legal system would not require outside intervention, and a case like Jamie’s would never proceed in the first place,” the group said in a statement. “But we are enormously grateful to Sheik Mohammed for stepping in and vindicating Jamie after months of hardship.”
Legal codes in the United Arab Emirates often ensnare expatriate residents and visitors lulled into assuming that the Western-style amenities — sprawling malls, fivestar hotel bars and beach resorts — also mean relaxed rules on public behaviour.
Dubai, one of seven emirates that comprise the United Arab Emirates and the hub of the U.A.E. tourist industry, does allow far more latitude on dress codes and other aspects compared with neighbouring Persian Gulf nations. But U.A.E. laws are still widely influenced by tribal codes and traditions that leave little flexibility.
Bouncing cheques can be punishable by jail time, and women who report sexual assault can end up in legal trouble themselves on charges of having sex outside marriage.
Travel groups and websites have made a cottage industry of listing how to avoid potential trouble in the U.A.E.
Among the cautionary tales is that of an unmarried British couple found guilty in 2008 of having sex on a beach in Dubai after leaving an all-you-can-drink champagne brunch at a luxury hotel. In another case, a British couple was ordered jailed for a month in 2010 after an Emirati woman complained they had kissed each other on the mouth in a Dubai restaurant. A couple was once arrested for sending each other sexy texts.
Britain’s Foreign Office has put out notices warning travellers to be mindful of local rules while in Dubai.
Last week, Philip Parham, the British ambassador to the U.A.E., issued advice to British travellers, politely and diplomatically reminding them that Dubai’s legal system can be a field of landmines.
It is a tricky balancing act for Dubai, the affluent municipality that seeks to boost its economy with tourism dollars from people like Harron. But, according to the blog Detained in Dubai, it is also an extremely religiously conservative emirate “with an archaic corrupt legal system used as a corporate jail by the unscrupulous and vindictive.”
For many, Harron’s arrest has served as an unofficial travel advisory.
Harron told the Sun the justice system in Dubai was in an “absolute shambles.”
But he had more pressing matters than pursuing legal reform in the Middle Eastern country, he said. His flight back to Scotland was scheduled for Tuesday. He just wanted to see his mother.
According to Britain’s Sun newspaper, he told her: “Just stop crying, Mum, don’t be upset anymore. Don’t cry anymore.”