No Acquittal For French Expat Who Flipped Off Dubai Police

In another case of- why on earth would you want to live in Dubai?- a 59-year-old French expat who allegedly flipped off plainclothes policemen on a Dubai bridge and asked to be acquitted on indecency charges has lost his court appeal.

The Dubai Court of Appeal upheld a six-month suspended jail term against the 59-year-old French engineer, D.M., and convicted him of flashing his middle finger in the faces of two Emirati policemen while driving on Business Bay Bridge.

Yes, indeed, giving someone the finger or swearing at them is a criminal offense in the UAE.
Although he pleaded not guilty, the Frenchman also faces deportation.  Chalking it up to cultural differences, his lawyer Hussain Al Jazeri told Judge Rifaat Tolba Othman during the trial:

"Out in Europe and several Western countries, it's an Anglo-Saxon habit that someone flashes his middle finger unlike in our culture… where it is an act punishable by law. The two cultures differ, whereby when someone flashes his finger in the West he/she has to raise his elbow then flip up his finger.
"In the West it is a normal reaction. Here it's only flipping up the finger. My client, D.M., did not flash his finger. The claimants misunderstood his hand sign. He is very well educated and enjoys good behaviour. His social status does not permit him to act this way."

The story goes, at least according to the policemen:

"We were driving a civilian police pick-up on Al Khail Road. Suddenly the suspect's car jumped into our lane in a reckless way… I overtook him from the left meanwhile my colleague showed him his police ID then asked him to pull over. When he flashed his middle finger, we reported the matter to the Operation Room," said one of the policemen.

Al Jazeri explained the story from his client's perspective:

"When the pick-up driver signalled for him to pull over, he was astonished. The pick-up did not have any sign that it was a police car. Then the passenger showed him something like a walkie-talkie. My client could not look at the other car because he was driving on a highway. Had he looked left or right, he might have caused an accident.

"He moved his hand but he didn't flash his finger… his social and academic background does not allow him to stoop to such offensive behaviour."

The Frenchman's other lawyer, Obaid Ali Obaid, asked for the case to be dismissed because it would have been impossible for the policemen to see the gesture:

"How could they have seen him flashing his right-hand finger… supposedly he did, but he should have flashed his left-hand finger because they drove to his left."

His lawyers have 27 days to file another appeal, but he'll probably be deported. He should be thankful. A free trip home to civilization.

UPDATE: Woman Fired - Drunk Couple In Dubai Accused Of Having Sex In Taxi

A foreign couple in Dubai were allegedly caught having sex in the back seat of a taxi, but were they really going at it? One can never tell when dealing with Emiratis. They find any public displays of affection offensive, and an innocuous peck on the cheek can actually land a couple in prison. In 2010, expats 24-year-old Ayman Najafi and 25-year-old Charlotte Adams found themselves spending a month in jail, fined £200 for drinking alcohol, and then deported to England after a woman snitched on them to the police. Apparently, her very young son  had seen the couple "kissing" in a restaurant where they were all eating, and that was enough to send them to jail.

This latest couple was also drunk, but deny they were having sex. The Irish man and British woman identified only as C.M. and R.B. (27) were in a taxi driven by an Asian man, but whether the driver snitched on them or they were pulled over by a policeman that "saw" what they were doing has not been determined yet.  The couple are being investigated and face charges of consuming alcohol, consensual sex, and public indecency- all no-nos in Dubai.

"C.M. and R.B. were boozed up when they were reported to a nearby police patrol that they indulged in sexual activity in the taxi's rear seat in an area close to Dubai Marina," a source told Gulf News.

According to primary police interrogations, the arresting police officer alleged that the woman was not wearing a shirt when he arrested the couple.

"Meanwhile C.M. countered those claims, according to his statement, contending that R.B. is his fiancée and that she was sad when he hugged her only."

"They couple deny involving in any form of sexual intimacy or public indecency."

The source added: "The suspects were said to have been sitting behind the driver's seat.

"It took nearly two minutes from the point where the taxi picked them up till the point where the police patrol stopped them.

"It would have been impossible for the woman to have taken off her shirt and initiated a sexual activity within a time span of two minutes.

"They admitted that they consumed alcohol… but they remained dressed and were not caught naked or involved in any form of sexual interaction."

It's quite obvious where the United Arab Emirates (UAE) stand on public displays of affection, but the whole alcohol issue is very confusing considering it is allowed for non-Muslims.  So why couples are being fined for consuming liquour like Najafi and Adams, or facing charges like the Irish and Brit couple is baffling.

As for the couple's alleged sexual activity, a  prosecution source told Gulf News,

"We are still waiting for forensic reports to prove whether the couple had sex or indulged in any form of sexual activity."

"On May 30, the investigating prosecutor will hear the statements of the Asian driver, Q.K., who is believed to have reported the incident, and the arresting officer.

"The suspects were released on bail after spending five days in detention in Jebel Ali police station."

The incident happened some time after midnight. It could not be confirmed whether the driver reported the matter or whether police officers on patrol spotted the couple engaged in an indecent act.

"Apparently DNA and forensic tests seem to be negative so far," the source said.

I'm not sure I even want to know what forensic exams they performed on the couple.

It's still my contention that you have to be pretty stupid, or pretty drunk, to break UAE laws, and even more stupid for going to Dubai in the first place. Far too many restrictions that can land you in jail, fined or both. Including bad language. No thank you!

UPDATE 5/28/12:

They've now identified the couple: 29-year-old Rebecca Blake and Conor McRedmond. Since the initial report, Rebecca has been fired from her cushy £100,000 per annum job, and now admits she had been on an all day drinking binge. Though she still contends she did not have sex in the taxi, she claims everything that day was a "blur."   Apparently she started off her day at the Rotana Hotel at midday for its "all you can drink" brunch. Yes, instead of an "all you can eat" buffet, there is a hotel in a Muslim country (that will jail you for being drunk) that serves alcohol instead. Rebecca continued drinking throughout the day and into the evening.  The alleged "deed" occurred when Conor and Rebecca decided to head home.   She also complained about cockroaches biting her during her 5 day prison stay.

This latest news about the incident is a game changer. She does not have my sympathies.  First of all, if most of the day is a blur, then in her drunken stupor she very well could have been going at it with Conor in the back seat of that taxi. And living in that country, she should have known what the consequences of being caught would be.  Same goes for spending the whole day drinking. Though jailing someone for being drunk or having sex outside of marriage is outrageous, it is their country and their rules. 

I still wouldn't recommend going there.

UAE Court Ruling States Men Can Beat Wives And Kids

Domestic violence is a chronic, prevalent problem worldwide and something that should be strongly condemned and prosecuted, and yet women (and some men) wind up killed because rarely is anything done about it. Restraining orders can only go so far, but if a man is intent on killing his wife he will find a way, and it often starts with simple beatings that lead to uncontrollable rage and the desire to permanently harm the spouse. There are no justifiable reasons to ever beat your partner, but in Islam this is actually encouraged by some. Yes, I know there are clerics who like to use the whole toothbrush analogy, but sorry, I don't buy it. Never is it okay to hit your wife, and there is something fundamentally wrong with any religion that condones it, in this day and age.

And yet, the United Arab Emirates has just now ruled that it's perfectly okay (in fact it's a right) for husbands to beat their wives and kids- on one condition - there should be no visible, physical marks. In other words- go ahead men beat the women in your lives as long as you don't bruise them. What is most stupefying is the fact that this is applicable only to the female members of the household. Of course, there's that needed reconciliation attempt before the beating, but if that fails, knock her flat, just don't break her teeth.

The UAE can thank Judge Falah al Hajeri for this latest act of male chauvinism.

The judgment was made by one of the UAE’s most senior judges, Chief Justic Falah al Hajeri, who made the ruling in the case of a man fined £85 for slapping his wife and kicking his daughter.

The Emirati man in the case was found guilty of slapping his wife so hard he damaged her bottom lip and teeth.

He also slapped and kicked his 23-year-old daughter so that she suffered bruises on her hand and knee.

While the defendant, who has not been named, initially claimed he hit the two women only by accident, he was found guilty of assault.

However, he appealed, claiming that even if he had intended to strike his wife and daughter, under Shariah law he had the right to do so if he had first exhausted all other ways of resolving the dispute.

Chief Justice Falah al Hajeri said: 'Although the law permits the husband to use his right to discipline, he has to abide by the limits of this right.

'If the husband abuses this right to discipline, he cannot be exempted from punishment.'
Mr al Hajeri went on to explain that one of the ways of determining whether a man had breached this limit was to look for physical traces of beating.

Typical classic denial- not intending to hit the wife. These kind of abusive men love to blame the victim, as well as claiming it was the woman's fault. And if he has the right to do it under Shariah law, then Shariah law needs to be dumped or evolve. Women are not the property of men, and they are certainly not children in need of discipline.

There have been some enlightened souls in the Arab world who balked at the ruling, but others who see it as a "real-life compromise"

...between the competing demands of the petro-state’s highly Westernised population and its conservative Muslim heritage.

There should never be any compromise when it comes to domestic violence, I don't care whose religion thinks it's peachy keen to beat a wife.

The Qu'ran mentions something about the right of men to discipline their wives, and that particular verse has often been open to interpretation. Islamic scholars have been battling over that for a very long time. The following two men represent both sides of the argument.

Jihad Hashim Brown, the head of research at the Islamic think tank the Tabah Foundation said beating one’s wife was in conflict most Islamic texts, which encourage Muslims to treat their wives in 'love and kindness'.

He said a Quranic verse might appear to allow certain things but if the verse was not 'clear and concise', it should not enter courts of law.

However, Dr Ahmed al Kubaisi, head of Sharia Studies at Iraq’s Baghdad University, said that under Sharia law beating one’s wife was an option to prevent the breakdown of the family.

He said it should be used only as a substitute to resorting to the police. 'If a wife committed something wrong, a husband can report her to police,' Dr al Kubaisi said.

'But sometimes she does not do a serious thing or he does not want to let others know; when it is not good for the family. In this case, hitting is a better option.'

And what about when a man does something wrong, is the wife allowed to deck him, as long as she leaves no marks? She should!