Do you know who I am? I will get you deported
Electrician tells of businessman’s blast after bar bump
AN ELECTRICIAN showed yesterday how brushing past a businessman in Dubai landed him in jail. Jamie Harron, of Stirling, was convicted of public indecency after accidentally bumping into engineering firm boss Emad Tabaza in a bar. In his first TV interview about his ordeal, Jamie said of his encounter with the businessman: “I went to see what the problem was. He said, ‘Do you know who I am? I’ll get you deported.’” Appearing on ITV show This Morning, he re-enacted the incident with host Phillip Schofield. The 27-year-old pretended he was holding a pint as the presenter played Jordanian Tabaza.
As they passed each other in the studio, Jamie showed how he steadied himself to avoid spilling his drink by touching Phillip’s hip with the palm of his hand.
He said: “Basically we had a drink. As I walked past him, I put my hand out as I’ve guided past him. He said something and I said sorry and walked away.
“I sat at my table, saw a bit of pointing over.
“We left it for 20 minutes, half an hour, then saw police with him pointing. I went to see what the problem was. He said, ‘Do you know who I am? I’ll get you deported’.”
Tabaza later withdrew his accusations but the prosecution decided to proceed with the case anyway and Jamie was sentenced to three months in prison.
Jamie told Phillip and co-host Holly Willoughby that he was forced to sleep on the floor in a crowded cell.
He said: “There were 50 people in the big cells then cells off, so 10 in our one.
“I was on the floor for the first few nights then worked my way to a bed.”
The nightmare only ended for Jamie after Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed, intervened to free him due to growing international pressure.
He finally returned home to Scotland last week.