British girl faces jail in Dubai after watching while pals brawled
A YOUNG Briton is facing prison in Dubai over a fracas she says she had no part in.
Asa Hutchinson, who works in the Gulf city, claims she has been charged because she was the only suspect who lives there.
Her friends who were involved in the late-night altercation flew home to Britain and the alleged victim asked police to transfer the charges on to her instead.
‘It is so unfair, said the 21year-old. ‘I was not involved, I just happened to be there. But the police are not interested in anything I have to say. Once the man made his complaint it was taken as fact. I can’t go to jail – I couldn’t cope.’
Miss Hutchinson, her boyfriend and some of their friends had been on a night out in Dubai’s financial district before the dispute took place.
It started when the group took pictures of a Swedish businessman half-asleep in a hotel lobby.
When he objected to the ‘selfies’ a fight broke out and the British group were arrested.
They were questioned at the notorious Bur Dubai police station, where British tourist Lee Bradley Brown was reportedly beaten to death in a cell by six officers after being arrested for swearing and assault.
Miss Hutchinson’s friends were given their passports after paying cash bonds and allowed to fly home to Britain.
But she now faces an assault charge and one of theft, relating to the Swede, who is in his 50s, losing his glasses in the melee.
The British party had been celebrating at Dusty’s bar and restaurant before the dispute took place.
Miss Hutchinson’s mother, Lucie Harrison, insisted yesterday that she was ‘absolutely and completely innocent’.
She added: ‘She was there at the time but all she did was pick some glasses up off the floor and put them in the bin because she was worried someone would step
‘You worry about your kids’
on them. You always worry about your kids, especially in these Middle Eastern countries.
‘There is so much on the news about the way they treat British visitors but Asa was having a great time.
‘She loved the work and made so many friends – she is a quiet, sensible girl and really is the last person to start any trouble.’
Miss Hutchinson, who is from Chelmsford in Essex, has been working in the UAE’s largest city as a key account manager for a global transport company. Her father Iain said: ‘This older guy was the one hitting everyone.
‘He ought to know better at his age than getting into drunken fights with kids.
‘And now he can’t throw his weight around and get them into trouble he is picking on my young daughter.’
Detained in Dubai, a campaign group representing Miss Hutchinson, warned that the justice system in the United Arab Emirates did not operate to international standards.
Spokesman Radha Stirling said: ‘In Dubai, if two parties are in dispute or arguing, the first person to speak to the police is usually the one who is believed. Often, it is a race to get to the police first.
‘By making this complaint, the man may have been safeguarding himself from being charged.
‘Also, it is clear in this case that Asa was a bystander, not involved with the fight, and is only being victimised because the alleged culprits have left the country.’
Taking a photograph of someone without their consent is illegal in Dubai.
The incident is understood to have occurred in late 2016.
A Foreign Office spokesman said last night: ‘Our staff in Dubai assisted a British woman following an incident in 2016, and are ready to provide further help if requested.’
Last month a Briton man who was sentenced to three months in a Dubai jail for touching another man’s hip had the charges against him suddenly dropped. Jamie Harron, 27 from Stirling in Scotland, was exonerated by the prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.