A UK citizen has been sentenced to three months in jail in Dubai after “insulting” airport staff who were slow to bring his mother a wheelchair.

The unnamed man was originally issued a Dh 10,000 (£2,150) fine, but his appeal against this failed and his punishment was extended to a jail term on 6 November.

An airport employee told the court that the man swore at her after she had explained the airport’s wheelchair policy to him, telling him that “a wheelchair would be made available before boarding the bus”.

“When I tried to explain it to him, he insulted me using very bad language. I told the traveller that using such offensive language is not allowed at Dubai airport but he responded that he didn’t care.”

The employee then called the police, and a case was filed against the man in Dubai’s Criminal Court. Following an appeal, which he lost, the fine was escalated into a jail sentence, followed by immediate deportation.

  • li10@feddit.uk
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    1 year ago

    Fuck that guy, but at the same time that’s a ridiculous sentence.

    Honestly, you have to be mental to go to one of these countries. I know they want to become tourist hubs, but there’s just so many reasons to avoid.

    • nicetriangle@kbin.social
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      Yeah I refuse to ever take a flight route through any of those countries. I don’t care if it’s a 15 min layover.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Eh, I’ve been through Dubai on a layover. It’s fine as long as you act normal and dress conservatively. Obviously there are people who can’t or won’t meet that standard but it’s genuinely fine for most people.

        • azertyfun@sh.itjust.works
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          Yea nah fuck that noise. I could dress in a burka wrapped around a hazmat suit and it would still take one “security” personnel to google me, see I’m queer, and hatecrime me with the full support of his autocratic, theocratic government.

          Is it likely to happen? Prolly not. Do I want to take the risk? Nah, because it’s just way too dumb of a reason to end up gang raped in a UAE prison. In fact I’ll stick to democratic countries in general thankyouverymuch.

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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            Yeah, absolutely. I didn’t want to get into all the people who can’t go through there without being at risk just for who they are. I’d never expect you or anyone else in the same situation to put yourself at risk just because the UAE doesn’t care about a middle age white guy.

    • lovesickoyster@lemmy.world
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      but at the same time that’s a ridiculous sentence.

      I mean… he had the option of just paying the fine and be done with it - he gambled and he lost.

      Honestly, you have to be mental to go to one of these countries.

      Sometimes it’s almost impossible to avoid. Dubai and Doha are huge hubs for connecting flights.

      (I am also not a huge fan because Dubai airport was the only time in my life where I had to wait in line to take a piss)

      • li10@feddit.uk
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        1 year ago

        The fine is obscene as well.

        I don’t think “gambled and lost” is a good enough excuse to imprison someone for 3 months over verbal abuse.

        I don’t want to defend this asshole, but the punishment is just too much for what he did.

        • 01011@monero.townOP
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          You’re very much talking from the perspective of somebody who was raised in a society where speaking disrespectfully to strangers is tolerated. The Emirati authorities have put in place laws that reflect their values - one of which is that people should communicate with a civil tongue. If you are unable to do so then it’s best you not go to the UAE.

          • li10@feddit.uk
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            1 year ago

            I come from a society where the government doesn’t imprison people willy nilly.

            And I will be avoiding the UAE like the plague, because our values about peoples freedom and rights are polar opposites.

            • Stamets@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              The UAE is a humans rights shithole anyway. This is just the tip of the very shitty, bigoted, racist, hateful iceberg.

          • lurch (he/him)@sh.itjust.works
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            In my country it’s also not allowed to insult others, but the fine is not that insanely high. I think it was about 20x or 40x too high. The person should pay it and feel bad he lost his money in this stupid way, not lose one or two entire months of pay as a fine or even be jailed over it. This can ruin someones life instead of making him a better person.

            • 01011@monero.townOP
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              How do income levels in your country compare to Dubai?

              A fine should be substantial enough that people who would otherwise behave in a despicable manner rethink their behavior. Two months wages is about right.

              • Transporter Room 3@startrek.website
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                Wow, two months wages is totally reasonable for having a bad day, and getting mad at the people responsible all because you said a “no no”

                Remind me to never visit whatever shithole you consider “good and reasonable” if that’s your take. Two months salary and months of prison time is insane no matter what country you are from.

                • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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                  This wasn’t a bad day. I have bad days all the time and I don’t yell at other people over it.

                • 01011@monero.townOP
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                  Having a bad day does not give you the right to be abusive.

                  Many a domestic abuser has used the same logic to justify assaulting their spouse.

              • Elektrotechnik@lemmy.world
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                Okay, I don’t agree with what you said at all. But for argument’s sake, how do you justify that they arbitrarily can raise a fine to a substantial prison sentence? That doesn’t even make sense, not even by your logic. You just said what you think is just, two months of his wage.

                So what did he do between insulting somebody and appealing in court that was so bad? Appealing in the first place?

          • IHeartBadCode@kbin.social
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            Emirati authorities have put in place laws that reflect their values

            Yeah how’s those apostasy laws? Oh! Lookie there, it’s death. Noice. But in fairness I wouldn’t recommend the United States to folks based on my experience of having lived here all my life. So I think it’s fair to live and let live at the end of the day.

            That said, challenging a fine and that challenge resulting in an increased sentence encourages folks to accept guilt when it may not be due. I don’t like it when they do it here in the US, I think it’s fair to indicate that it’s not liked anywhere else.

          • BURN@lemmy.world
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            They put laws in place that reflect their desire for control. Is your head so far up your own ass that you think that the people setting those laws actually follow them?

            There’s separate laws for the ruling class. They don’t give a flying fuck about “values”, they just want control

            • 01011@monero.townOP
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              As opposed to the Western world where that would never happen…

              The judicial system is never used to persecute racial minorities in the West…

              • JungleJim@sh.itjust.works
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                Why is the best defense for the actions of the UAE that “the west” has done it as well? I thought you guys wanted to be better than “the west”. If we’re such a poor example of morality, surpass us instead.

          • avater@lemmy.world
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            Laws like the one that forbid that a homosexual couple can share kisses in public places?

            • 01011@monero.townOP
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              Why is homosexuality the big go to when looking to attack the UAE?

              There are people in the West who grew up in societies where homosexuality was illegal and where physically assaulting homosexuals was rife.

              It is only relatively recently that has ceased to be the case.

              Public displays of affection are not cultural norms in the GCC between men and women.

              • avater@lemmy.world
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                Why is homosexuality the big go to when looking to attack the UAE?

                Why not? It fucking sucks and is against human rights, everywhere it happens. And it’s quite a stark contrast for the UAE to behave like this great, modern society and still have this kind of dark age laws…

                And that’s a big reason for me to avoid such archaic countries in general.

            • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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              It’s a face saving culture. So yeah, by our standards they will over react to embarrassment.

              • JungleJim@sh.itjust.works
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                by our standards

                The only standards I’ve got.

                I believe in cultural relativism, but I don’t think it’s an absolute. It only goes so far. It’s just (like) my opinion (man), but anybody who reacts that way to an insult loses much more face or respect than a person who is big enough to have a measured and reasonable response, rather than taking months of a person’s life as punishment for less than 30 seconds of speech.

                • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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                  Sure, and I’m sure you can just explain that to the legal system of any face saving culture you happen to find yourself in.

          • steakmeout@lemmy.world
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            Yeah they really respect women and foreign workers - so much respect. Fuck the UAE and fuck anyone for thinking it’s a respectable nation.

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            There was a time that slavery was the custom in the US.

            I’m not saying people should go around insulting everyone all day, I’m saying that using “cultural norms” as defense for any sort of punishment is dumb.

            • 01011@monero.townOP
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              Cultural norms are factors in all legal systems, to pretend otherwise is to be (in your parlance) “dumb”.

              • Transporter Room 3@startrek.website
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                Just because it’s normal, doesn’t make it any less fucking stupid. Your argument is literally just more “it’s just the way it is”, which is again, fucking stupid. “appeal to tradition”

                • 01011@monero.townOP
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                  Again, that is what ALL legal systems do. Judeo-Christian “values” are what underpin legal systems in the Western world. The notion of “rights” and “privileges” stem from local tradition, they are not universal.

                  It isn’t stupid to point out the truth but your inability to use civilized language is telling - it fully explains to me why you are so offended that somebody is being held to account for using impolite language for no justifiable reason.

              • Aceticon@lemmy.world
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                If your intention is to provide an explanation, that’s a good point.

                If your intention is to justify that law in a broad moral context then “it’s the culture there” really isn’t a valid justification, unless the point you want to make is that the country’s culture is inconsistent with present day broad moral context, in which case it sounds about right.

                • 01011@monero.townOP
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                  Who gets to dictate present day broad moral context? Is a vote taken on such?

          • tory@lemmy.world
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            Don’t you guys have like a fuck load of slaves?

            Civil tongue? Sorry what?

      • nicetriangle@kbin.social
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        Have you never been to a busy bar, concert, restaurant, music festival, street fair, or sporting event before? Hell I’d say I’ve waited in line at an airport almost every other time I travel. When a big flight lands, the nearest bathroom often gets slammed. I’ve experienced this across the US and Europe.

        I’m shocked anyone’s made it through life without queuing for the bathroom more than once.

        • lovesickoyster@lemmy.world
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          Honestly, nope, never, except that one time. There are usually enough urinals or if I had to wait it was a minute max.

          In my case at dubai airport at that time that specific terminal only had one restroom with two urinals, and there was a double queue from the urinals to the outside of the restrom, probably about 30 people long. It did not get any shorter for the hour and a half I was there - I waited.

          • nicetriangle@kbin.social
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            Ok yeah that’s exceptionally bad. Surprising with how much money that country seems to like to blow on everything. Form over function I guess.

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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            Really? The terminal I did a layover in was super modern, bathrooms included. I wonder if you came in a different one?

  • Kiwi@lemmy.world
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    Love how much OP is shilling for UAE. I doubt OP would be so okay with the jail sentence if it were them who had to serve it.

    • 01011@monero.townOP
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      Just because I’m not accepting of much of the vile behavior that is tolerated in the West does not mean that I am shilling for the UAE.

      • Kiwi@lemmy.world
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        You’re right, yelling at someone is super vile behavior. It should definitely be punished. I assume you also believe that freely expressing options about politics, or religion is also super vile and should be punished.

        The west has its own issues, and the way people interact with each other is one of them, but the UAE is not in a position to pass judgement. The forced civility between civilians while the government carries out mass executions by beheading of dissidents is a thin vail over the same vile behavior you are decrying in your comments.

        I’ve read all of your comments in this thread, you are 1000% shilling for UAE

        • 01011@monero.townOP
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          Your assumptions are false and quite the leap from my objections to verbal assault. I am not a religious man, I take no issue with discussing politics.

          Nowhere have I mentioned religious discourse or politics. The mere fact that you would bring such topics to the fore is suggestive of the bigoted lens through which many people in the West view other parts of the world.

      • andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works
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        Charging a person for three months for being an asshole is too much tho. With all diferent cultures and stuff, what can even grant such a sentence? Article didn’t specify it. I can’t believe a ranting brit can cause that much of a problem to lock him up.

  • gerryflap@feddit.nl
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    I mean, insulting staff is disgusting behaviour, but 3 months of prison is absolutely insane. These countries are still hellholes stuck in the past, and I’ll make sure never to visit them.

  • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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    Why do people still visit Dubai? There’s all kinds of harmless or relatively minor stuff that can get you thrown in prison there. I wouldn’t even change planes in that theocratic shithole.

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    I’m not crazy about a lot of these places but I do so hate assholes who treat the waitstaff like their own personal lot in life. Fuck this guy if these alligators allegations are true 🐊

    Edit: every time I hear the word allegations, my mind immediately turnd to

    1. Alligators
    2. freddy vs jason (if you say it funny kenough)

    Edit: even sadder, i first spelled it like allegators --> what Lawyers should have been called. Allegators, like allocutors

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    I’m not a big fan of the UAE, but I do like the idea of criminalizing the abuse of service workers. The American “kiss their ass faster and more thoroughly” style isn’t fair to employees, and only rewards bad behavior.

    • R0cket_M00se@lemmy.world
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      That’s easily solvable by refusing service to someone who uses abusive language.

      The only instance where words should get you jail time is if it’s a specific and targeted threat against someone, just being a douche is far too grey of an area to put people in prison for.

      • magnetosphere@kbin.social
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        True. Jail time would often be overkill, but people need to understand that it’s not acceptable to threaten to take away someone’s livelihood (and often their health insurance) just because the employee is following company policy. That can be a much more serious threat than customers realize.

        In order to refuse service, employees have to feel comfortable doing so. That means being certain that there will be no negative repercussions from management, and that management will back their decision 100%. Service workers shouldn’t have to choose between keeping their dignity or paying their rent.

      • MurphysPaw@sh.itjust.works
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        Yeah the punishment was extreme but what was the guy thinking? If you’re gonna travel to another country the least you should do is make yourself aware of the shit you might be in for.

        A long flight can be stressful, sure, but you’re not in England now you silly sausage.

      • YeetPics@mander.xyz
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        Wow my games aren’t stupid. Saying that is worth like a zillion months in a cell.

  • R0cket_M00se@lemmy.world
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    Fuck Sharia law, fuck draconian abrahamic religions, fuck their way of life and their culture.

    These asshats are going to drag us into the dark ages because of their make believe gods.

      • ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world
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        Yeah I’ll admit it. I hate religious people. Even the ones that don’t push these practices onto others.

        It’s funny to me how the ones who fully follow their religious doctrine are called extremists when they’re actually the only ones actually following the written rules.

        So you’re either aggressively trying to expand your influence on the world or your hypocritically cherry picking details to make you feel better about it.

        Either way I’m sick of fucking hearing about it. Idgaf which sky daddy you pray to or believe is real. Idgaf about what your special book says you can or can’t do. Absolutely none of it holds any weight to me at all and it’s just modern barbarism using religious persecution as a shield to hide behind.

        “They made fun of my religion 😭😭😭”

        Yeah cause you just killed 3 women for not wearing the right piece of fuckin cloth on their heads.

      • YeetPics@mander.xyz
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        Western bigotry… I’m a bit rusty, is that 6 months or 9 months in a decrepit cell?

  • Gazumi@lemmy.world
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    Man travels outside of UK and expects to be treated as if at home!!

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    A UK citizen has been sentenced to three months in jail in Dubai after “insulting” airport staff who were slow to bring his mother a wheelchair.

    The unnamed man was originally issued a Dh 10,000 (£2,150) fine, but his appeal against this failed and his punishment was extended to a jail term on 6 November.

    The Court of Appeal heard that the man began to insult staff at Dubai International Airport after they told him that they couldn’t immediately bring his mother a wheelchair, reports the Daily Mail.

    “I saw the traveller repeatedly asking an airport desk employee about the wheelchair and expected that he might have not understood her explanation,” she said, reports The National.

    In October, an American student briefly faced a year in prison after being accused of assaulting staff during an altercation.

    In 2017, a British tourist was also sentenced to a brief jail term after making “rude gestures” and touching a man’s hip in a bar.


    The original article contains 299 words, the summary contains 161 words. Saved 46%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • Aceticon@lemmy.world
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    It makes sense that a penalty is set proportional to the harm caused, so the 3 months sentence might make sense if the victim was genuinelly psychologically affected by it in a way that lasted a significant period, but for merelly feeling insulted 3 months seems the kind of “Justice not at all trying to be Just” you get when authoritarian moralism is encoded in Law, not at all what law-making should strive for in a country aiming for Rule Of Law were sentencing is guided by harm caused rather than the iron-fist enforcing of moral behaviours.

    Of course, this being the UAE, I’m not at all surprised that the Law is not at all about doing what is Just, since unlike in Democracies that country doesn’t even attempt to have real Rule Of Law.