Job Discussion Forums

uaeobserver · Joined: 05 Feb 2007 Posts: 236

I really don't sympathize with the beach gropers.....

Besides --- they'll likely enjoy an Eid pardon in early December --- and will be on their way home.

ardiles81 · Joined: 23 Sep 2007 Posts: 71

Not a sugar crystal sized jot of sympathy - doubtless they will make up for it with 'My Arab jail horror' stories for the tabloids which will make up for any loss of earnings and face and maybe 15 mins in a reality show. Please drunken shagging on a beach in your mid-30s, I thought most folk if they'd been there at all, had grown out of that on leaving teenage years. Fools.

Mark100 · Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Posts: 441

Lot of tough talking going on here but it should be remembered that the English couple deny having sex on the beach.

It is also timely to remember that you have no rights as a foreign citizen in Dubai.

If some official takes a disliking to you and wants to gaol you there is not much you can do by way of appeal.

Certainly you can't count on any help at all from your embassy.

And then of course there is the double standards relating to local Emiratis who can do just about anything with immunity but are very quick to gaol any westerner for what most would agree are petty offences.

There have been numerous cases over the last few years of westerners being gaoled for all sorts of minor offences.

Add to this what is happening on a daily basis to the third world nationals that are the backbone of the labour force in the UAE and you have a very grubby picture indeed of law and order UAE style.

johnslat · Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 1:18 am Post subject: A kiss is just a kiss . . . NOT

I believe that in the UAE, even just kissing/embracing would be considered "having sex on the beach."
Am I right about that?

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

Exactly John... as I stated at the beginning of this thread... kissing is NOT considered separate from intercourse. Strange as it seems to us, they consider them inseparable.

They admit they were drunk... it is obvious that they were stupid.

VS

Mark100 · Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Posts: 441

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

And so it always has been... all over the Middle East... Very much the same as our "Victorian" times. It is one of the first things that struck me when I moved to Egypt in the 80s.

It behooves anyone who lives in a foreign land and culture to educate oneself... and not be fooled by a veneer of "westernization."

VS

Neil McBeath · Joined: 01 Dec 2005 Posts: 277 Location: Saudi Arabia

Can I point out that VS is pulling her usual trick of referring to ONE personal experience MANY YEARS AGO and then generalising.

Regardless of the opinions iof the Omani TV censor (in the days before satellite dishes - so how long ago WAS this?) nobody is going to be arrested for a quick peck on the cheek in a public place.

The difficulty here is that, as other posters have pointed out Dubai has acquired a reputation for prostitution, and it is also marketing itself as a "fun in the sun holiday destination". Couple that with easily available alcohol and touyrists who are used to the freedom they found in parts of Spain, and this type of incident was bound to happen.

like2answer · Joined: 21 Sep 2006 Posts: 154

The Brits got off easy... they were the "right" color.

http://jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/006602.php

June 11, 2005
UAE: 1-Year Jail for Kissing Couple
Sharia alert from the Arab News, with thanks to Designnut:

SHARJAH, 4 June 2005 � An unmarried Indian couple have been sentenced to one year in prison for hugging and kissing in a taxi in the Emirate of Fujairah in the north of the UAE. A report in the local press identified the man as Anis Balnabar and the woman as Bani Bent.

It is the first such case reported in the UAE in recent years. According to the report, Bani Bent, who works at a national�s house in Fujairah, came out of the building and flagged a taxi. A short distance ahead, she picked up the man and both got into the back seat of the vehicle.

The taxi driver was told to drive to a park. As he was driving, the driver spied through the rear mirror that the couple were hugging and kissing each other. He turned the car and drove straight to the nearest police station....

Police questioned the two. The couple admitted that they were lovers and hugging and kissing each other in the car.

Police took them into custody and referred the case to prosecutors who charged the man with �indecent assault by consent,� and the woman with facilitating the offense. A court in Fujairah sentenced both to one year each in prison.

Posted by Robert at June 11, 2005 5:35 PM

eha · Joined: 26 May 2005 Posts: 355 Location: ME

I suppose the taxi driver got a medal.

like2answer · Joined: 21 Sep 2006 Posts: 154

And another one:

http://www.zeenews.com/articles.asp?aid=465809&sid=LIF

Couple jailed for kissing on beach

Dubai, Aug 31: In a first instance, two foreign women have been found guilty by a court in Dubai on Sunday which sentenced them to one month jail for "indecent acts" in a public beach.

The Dubai Court of Appeal has found the two women guilty of kissing on a public beach in Dubai and upheld the one month jail term handed out by a lower court, according to media reports.

A 30-year-old Lebanese tourist and a 36-year-old Bulgarian, who had pleaded not guilty on a lower court, were charged with kissing, groping each other and indecent acts in public by the court, 7Days newspaper said.

Both will be deported after serving their jail terms. According to police reports, in April, the two women were seen being intimate with each other on the Al Mamzar public beach between Sharjah and Dubai.

"I called the police because it was indecent especially as there were some families around," said a witness according to police records.

Bureau Report

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

cassava · Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Posts: 175

It is a truism, which bears repeating, that many so-called liberal Muslim countries are, in fact, guided by very conservative ideologies. However, even if this were not the case, anyone with a brain should realize that before you decide to visit or work in a foreign country, you have an obligation to find out what the laws as well as the customs and traditions are. Furthermore, you have a duty to respect them regardless of how illogical, sexist, or bizarre they may appear to be. The rule of thumb should be that if you don't like the regulations in question, refrain from going to that country.

Too many Westerners believe that their lifestyle should be considered the norm and that they should be able to flout local conventions and practices with impunity. I have little patience with such people, and if the heavy arm of the law falls on them, so be it.

When I returned to North America after many years in the Middle East, I was shocked at the level of vulgarity that had developed in North American society. Currently, in some parts of certain cities various forces of obscenity seem to be considered the norm. The envelope of tolerance is constantly being pushed. I certainly don't consider myself a prude, but I sometimes find the creeping tide of indecency to be simply nauseating. I can't blame the authorities in the UAE for clamping down.

johnslat · Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 2:37 pm Post subject:

Dear like2answer,

"The couple admitted that they were lovers and hugging and kissing each other in the car."

If they're that dumb, perhaps they should have been jailed instead for criminal stupidity.

Regards,
John

adorabilly · Joined: 20 May 2006 Posts: 430 Location: Ras Al Khaimah

may 20th 2006. UAE national arrested for kissing his fiance in their car.
http://www.gossipdubai.com/forum/showthread.php?t=754

june 5th 2008. Arrested for kissing on the lips in a parked car.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/nation/Police_and_The_Courts/10218605.html

July 7th 2008, The national paper warns about kissing in public in the UAE can lead to deporation.
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20080707/NATIONAL/480879389/0/FOREIGN

I can't seem to find my favorite one.. a married couple in Sharjah were arrested and jailed for kissing in their parked car in their garage because the garage door was open and someone took a picture on a cell phone camera and complained to the police....