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?

[Prudie]

If we are saying that FB is a worldwide tool and that Dubai have that law so are within their rights to enforce it on anybody it follows that all users are subject to the rules and laws of the entire world, some of which may be quite unacceptable. The whole thing is ludicrous and unjustified.

[naomi24]

danny, //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. //

I can't equate it with that at all. Hardly a matter of a nation's national security!

[spathiphyllum]

" The whole thing is ludicrous and unjustified."

Yep, sounds like Dubai

[dannyk13]

Naomi, I was not comparing the two as being equal in severity, merely in circumstance i.e the culprit being in the UK but the offence being elsewhere.

[ludwig]

This doesn't make any sense. Are they seriously saying that a foreigner can be prosecuted in Dubai for a 'crime' committed in a foreign country against a different foreigner?

I'd never set foot in any of these godforsaken holes. It baffles me why people do. I suppose I can't now anyway without being arrested, as I've just calld the whole country a godforsaken hole.

[douglas9401]

It's really all about boundaries and she's been hit for six.

If she won't help herself why should anyone else bother?

[naomi24]

Prudie at 10:12, exactly. Brunei has recently announced that gay sex and adultery are punishable by death.....

[naomi24]

Ludwig, //Are they seriously saying that a foreigner can be prosecuted in Dubai for a 'crime' committed in a foreign country against a different foreigner? //

Moreover for a crime that isn't a 'crime' in the country where it's 'committed'.

[naomi24]

Douglas, //If she won't help herself why should anyone else bother?//

Because there's a principle involved.

[jno]

as expected, people blaming Islam when it clearly has nothing to do with religion. It's a cyber-crime law. The British government is also trying to regulate the itnernet.

[jno]

dannyk, the UK was a notorious magnet for libel tourism until about five years ago.

[naomi24]

Grasping at straws, jno – as usual.

[douglas9401]

Principles are like prayers: Noble of course, but awkward at a party.

[naomi24]

Haha! Some party, douglas!

[tamborine]

The new wife lives in Dubai & entitled to protect her reputation from ex wife's spite.

[jno]

care to specify what you're talking about, naomi? Both comments I made were factually correct.

[Old_Geezer]

"if her comments were seen in Dubai the 'offence' was in Dubai"
So, the offence is seeing it rather than writing it.

[naomi24]

jno, //It's a cyber-crime law.//

Calling someone a horse is a cyber crime law? Politicians are called a lot worse on a daily basis!

//The British government is also trying to regulate the internet.//

But not against calling someone a horse.

[anotheoldgit]

One has to ask why did this silly woman travel all the way to Dubai so as to attend her ex husbands funeral, surely she would have come face to face with his widow who she had called a horse?

[jim360]

Out of respect for her ex-husband, perhaps?