British Woman Faces Dubai Jail Over Facebook Insult

[naomi24]

Laleh Shahravesh, 55, was arrested at a Dubai airport after flying there to attend her former husband's funeral. He was Portuguese, his new wife, Tunisian.

The British woman faces prosecution over two Facebook comments she posted in the UK on pictures of her husband remarrying in 2016.

Under the UAE's cyber-crime laws, a person can be jailed or fined for making defamatory statements on social media.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47847740

Far reaching laws. Should our Foreign Office advise those contemplating travel to Dubai to check social media accounts before booking flights?

[murraymints]

she ought not to have commented so on FB..*** stirring for new mrs... but Dubai is OTT !

[ToraToraTora]

Dress the place up in all the finery you like but you cannot hide the barbarity of TROP.

[spathiphyllum]

it is a backwards land full of backwards ideologies.

[ToraToraTora]

DD "Dubai markets itself as a holiday destination, and yet how many times have we heard of people getting into hot water over something that is trivial. " - Tourist boards the world over have the same problem. Market the country as a tourist destination then watch immigration and local law enforcement undo all your good work. The US is one of the worst I've been to.

[naomi24]

Prudie, //I see this as the new wife causing problems//

That's as may be, but the question is should she be subject to Dubai's laws when she's committed no crime there?

[naomi24]

TTT, I've never had a problem in the US or anywhere else. What have you been up to?

[dannyk13]

Naomi, as someone posted earlier Facebook is international so if her comments were seen in Dubai the 'offence' was in Dubai.

[spathiphyllum]

Naomi personally i think No she should not.

However, that comment didn't just appear in the UK but it also appeared in Dubai. Although she was in the UK she made the comment globally, for social judgement.

So technically she said or did what she did, globally.

[spathiphyllum]

sorry danny crossed posts

[ToraToraTora]

nothing Naomi, I just mean that the adverts are very welcoming but when you get there the airport staff, immigration etc are a bunch of surly unfriendly automatons.

[Prudie]

As to the question no absolutely she should not. She was not in Dubai at the time and not sure about the husband but neither she nor the new wife are Dubai nationals.

[naomi24]

danny, I know someone said that but should it apply? Quite recently someone in Austria was charged with blasphemy (unfairly in my opinion, but that's beside the point). Does that mean that Austria has a right to arrest anyone from the UK who has expressed what could be construed as 'blasphemous' opinions - despite there being no UK law against it?

[naomi24]

Prudie. The husband was Portuguese, the new wife Tunisian.

[naomi24]

TTT, I'll give you that. US immigration can be a bit gruff.

[ToraToraTora]

the safest thing is to stop posting cobras on twitface entirely.

[agchristie]

//She posted two comments in Farsi//

If she had posted in Persian it may have been considered 'catty'.

[dannyk13]

Naomi, I am not saying that I agree with what has happened, just that I think the Dubai authorities may be within their rights to prosecute.I suppose you could equate it with a hacker in the UK hacking into the FBI and the culprit being extradited to America, which has happened.

[spathiphyllum]

The womans lucky she didn't get lashings.

[tamborine]

"....The chief executive of Detained in Dubai, Radha Stirling, told BBC News that both her organisation and the Foreign Office (FCO) had asked the complainant to withdraw the allegation, but she had refused...."

withdraw fb insult (with 'w') & save our tax costs via FO plea, or remain absent from dter & jailed! Why should we be dragged into her vindictivness?

[ToraToraTora]

Naomi...and that was Las Vegas! One place where you think they'd be a bit friendly!