Dubai kissing couple jailed on the word of a 2 year old.

Source: BBC News
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A British man and woman jailed in Dubai for kissing in public have lost their appeal against their conviction.
Ayman Najafi, 24, and Charlotte Adams, 25, were sentenced to a month in prison with subsequent deportation and fined about £200 for drinking alcohol.
The pair were arrested in November after a local woman accused them of breaking the country's decency laws by kissing on the mouth in a restaurant.
Najafi said he was "very disappointed". The pair plan to make a second appeal.
The initial complaint against them was made by a 38-year-old woman who said she was offended by their behaviour at the Jumeirah Beach Residence, where she was dining with her daughter.
'Very harsh'
The pair's defence lawyers said the woman - who did not appear in court - had not seen the kiss herself, but had been told by her two-year-old child that the girl had seen them kissing.
Magdi Abdelhadi of BBC News says: "Dubai looks very Western with its gleaming apartment blocks and super modern shopping malls. The Western façade can, however, lull the unsuspecting visitor into believing that it is also a liberal society.
And that appears to be primarily why Western visitors have recently fallen foul of the law there.
Scratch the modern surface and you discover a conservative Muslim culture, arguably far more so than many others in the Middle East.
Consumption of alcohol is restricted to a small number of places, mainly for Western visitors and expatriates.
Although there is no strict separation of the sexes as in neighbouring Saudi Arabia, the boundaries for what you can and cannot do in public can be tricky, especially for outsiders. While an unmarried Western couple can share a room in a hotel - or even live together - they are expected to observe local custom when outside their home.
So sentencing a couple for having kissed in public may be shocking for Western public opinion, but will most likely be applauded in conservative Arab societies, especially where there is a perception that Westerners are often expected to be given a preferential treatment."
The defendants also claimed they had merely kissed each other on the cheek, and therefore had not broken any laws.
The BBC's Ben Thompson, at the court, said the judge spoke entirely in Arabic as he quickly dismissed the appeal, saying he upheld the previous sentence.
They were fined 1,000 dirhams, which is about £200. They now have 30 days to appeal.
It was left to the defence lawyer to explain the verdict to Najafi and Adams.
Najafi said after the case: "It's very harsh, based on contradictory evidence. The courts haven't called on any of our witnesses who are prepared to testify that this didn't happen."
His mother, Maida Najafi, told the BBC her son had grown up in the UK and was used to common British greetings.
"Maybe they think he should know better because he's from a Muslim family but Ayman grew up in this country, and that's the normal greeting... in this country," she said.
The pair decided not to start their sentence immediately, but the Dubai authorities are holding their passports so they are unable to return to Britain.
Professor John Strawson, an expert in Islamic law, told BBC Radio 5 Live he was not surprised by the judge's decision.
He said: "The problem in this particular case is that one of the British citizens is of Muslim origin.
"And I think that the combination of the alleged kissing and the consumption of alcohol in an illegal place, meant that this was a case that the authorities really wanted to pursue, and they are probably sticking to their rigid interpretation of the law."
Professor Strawson said the Dubai authorities often turned a blind eye to foreigners' behaviour, because of the high income that comes from tourists.
But he said Dubai had recently issued new explanations tightening up their laws.
'Cultural differences'
The Foreign Office advises Britons going to Dubai, which is part of the United Arab Emirates, to be wary of breaching local customs.
A statement on its travel advice website reads: "Britons can find themselves facing charges relating to cultural differences, such as using bad language, rude gestures or public displays of affection."
Najafi, from north London, had been working for marketing firm Hay Group in Dubai for about 18 months.
The case is the latest in a series of incidents over recent years in which foreigners have broken Dubai's strict decency laws.
In March, an Indian couple in their 40s were sentenced to three months in jail in Dubai after sending each other sexually explicit text messages.
In 2008, two Britons accused of having sex on a beach in Dubai were sentenced to three months in jail, though the sentences were later suspended.

U-turn on alcohol in food ban

As was expected, there's been a u-turn on the ban on alcohol in food in Dubai..  I was wondering how they were going to flambe dishes.  And, as usual, the negative publicity has been as the result of a "misunderstanding".  The chefs thought the circular meant what it said when it stated clearly in English “Use of alcohol in preparation and cooking of food is strictly prohibited. Display and sale of food products containing alcohol as an ingredient is strictly prohibited...”  Seems the words 'strictly prohibited' mean something else, like for example, business as usual.
Source: The National
Photo: Blend Stock Photos
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On second thought, waiter, maybe I’ll have that order of coq au vin.
Hotels and restaurants in Dubai will be allowed to serve food cooked with alcohol after the municipality yesterday retracted its ban on such dishes.
In fact, there may never have been a ban. The confusion was a result of restaurateurs “misunderstanding” a circular sent to them.
The apparent U-turn came as a relief to chefs and hoteliers who feared huge losses if they were forced to remove from their menus all dishes containing alcohol.
Chefs from leading hotels in Dubai had approached the municipality on Sunday asking for a review of the decision.
Khalid Sharif al Awadhi, the director of the Food Control Department at Dubai Municipality, said that food containing alcohol could be served, provided it is segregated from other food and clearly labelled.
“We are asking them that any alcohol content in food should be declared,” he said. “We have found violations where hotels are not clearly stating alcohol content in their food.
“This is why we issued the new circular,” Mr al Awadhi explained.
He said alcohol should be handled like other “non-halal products”, such as pork.
A municipality circular sent to all hotels last week clearly stated that food in alcohol would be strictly prohibited. “Use of alcohol in preparation and cooking of food is strictly prohibited. Display and sale of food products containing alcohol as an ingredient is strictly prohibited,” said the circular, seen by The National.
Ahmed al Ali, the head of food inspections, had said on Sunday that alcohol in food would not be allowed even if clearly labelled.
Mr al Awadhi said yesterday that the circular was misunderstood. The municipality will meet with chefs from leading hotels later this week to communicate the regulation and clear the confusion.
Restaurant owners said they were waiting to hear from Dubai Municipality before they made changes to their menus.
Yann Chevris, the general manager of Nozomi at Al Habtoor Grand hotel, said: “I think I will wait for the final word before we do anything. We will have to follow the regulations, anyway. We are in a country with different rules because of the religious aspect of it and we have to respect that.”
He said that a restriction of alcohol in cooking would be a handicap for chefs as alcohol is used in numerous sauces and desserts.
“I think the more restriction on them on how they cook or what they can cook is a restriction on their originality and the freedom of creating,” Mr Chevris said.
“We will change some dishes if we have to and maybe it will challenge people to work around it.”
Uwe Micheel, the president of the Emirates Culinary Guild, said he knew what changes to expect: “It will be similar to how we handle pork.”
This would mean separate storage, clear labelling communicated to patrons “and when it’s on the buffet it is separate from the other foods”.
He added: “I think it is fine and we must not forget we are in a Muslim country and we have a lot of Muslims coming into the restaurants.”
A scholar from the Islamic Affairs Authority’s fatwa centre, the only body in the UAE authorised to issue religious edicts, said the use of alcohol in cooking was unequivocally forbidden.
“It is not allowed to put alcohol in food because it is impure,” he said. “Just the fact that it touches the food makes it impure even if [the alcohol] evaporates.”
The affair raised questions about the law in Abu Dhabi, which is usually considered more conservative in matters cultural and religious.
According to Fareed al Zubi, the chief lawyer at the capital’s Department of Economic Development, the law in Abu Dhabi prohibits the use of alcohol in food unless the establishment, such as a hotel, has a special licence issued by the tourism authorities and the menus clearly label which items have alcohol in them.
Reema Baroudi, the director of communications and public relations at the Intercontinental in Abu Dhabi, said less than one per cent of meals in her hotel were prepared with alcohol, and those were clearly labelled.
“It would not be a big issue” if Abu Dhabi decided to ban the use of alcohol in cooking, she said. “We have not received any instructions from the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, but if we do we will just have to comply.”

Dubai issues 'alcohol in food' ban to hotels

Ah well, there go the rum balls....
Source: ArabianBusiness.com 21 March 2010
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Dubai Municipality has issued a letter banning the use of alcohol in cooking in a move that could potentially be a big blow for the city’s restaurants and hotels.  Alcohol is 'strictly prohibited' in the preparation of food, the official letter said. However, the move has sparked mass confusion in the industry leading to officials to rethink the ban. They are now set to issue revised restrictions on Tuesday, sources said.
The letter, a copy of which has been seen by Arabian Business, states the use of alcohol in the preparation and cooking of food, and the display and sale of food containing alcohol was “strictly prohibited”.
It is reinforcing an existing law issued in 2003. Muhammed Khalid Saeed, food health inspection officer at the Food Control Department at the municipality was not available for comment.
David O’Brien, operations director of Caprice Holdings, which runs the Rivington Grill restaurant in Souq Al Bahar, said he did not know why the law was now being fully enforced.
“It just means that it limits the scope of what we can serve. To do some dishes you need to have alcohol, like a coq au vin needs red wine, or beer for a traditional beer batter. It limits the repertoire.
He said the Rivington Grill was still using alcohol in some of its dishes until further clarification from the municipality. But, some hotels have already implemented the ban.
Uwe Micheel, president of the Emirates Culinary Guild and director of kitchens at the Radisson Blu Dubai Creek, said he thought the ban would be dropped but stricter rules brought in.
“We’ve spoken with the municipality and right now it’s going to be reconsidered and a new circular issued on Tuesday. It will not be as tough but there will be some restrictions coming,” he said.
“The way I see it, most probably, there will have to be a separate menu for dishes cooked with alcohol and separate storage – much like the restrictions that exist for pork.
“They don’t want to hurt the industry but they get a lot of complaints from Muslims about too much mixing of alcohol on menus.”

Dubai hotel rape case dismissed

Hmmm, why wasn't the hotel's CCTV footage checked immediately?  Hmmm, the couple concerned have consistently been reported as being in Dubai to celebrate their engagement yet now it seems they forgot they were married on 19 November last year, and suddenly they have the marriage certificate to prove it.  Hmmm, how is it that the couple are standing trial for consuming alcohol when they were inside a 'licenced' hotel?  Are tourists in Dubai being made aware that they risk arrest if they have an alcoholic drink in a hotel bars in Dubai?  Is it entrapment for the hotels to provide bars which serve alcohol when surely they must be aware that their customers risk arrest for partaking? 
Source: WAM/Arabian Business
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Dubai's public prosecution on Thursday said a case of a British woman who claimed she was raped in the bathroom of a top hotel in the emirate on New Year's Eve had been closed.
The woman alleged that she was sexually attacked by an Indian hotel worker at The Address Hotel in Dubai Marina.
Attorney General Essam Al Humaidan said the investigation into the allegations had been completed and prosecutors had decided to close the charge against the Indian worker "as the incident didn't happen", news agency WAM reported.
He said the public prosecution had also decided to dismiss the count of consensual rape against the British girl and her friend after the duo showed the court a marriage certificate dated November 16 2009.
He said that they would only stand trial for consuming alcohol without a permission.
The Dubai Attorney General attacked the way the case had been reported in some sections of the international press.
"All these untrue reports have not, in any way, affected resolutions the Dubai Public Prosecution has taken in the case as these measures have been taken after thorough investigation in virtue of the criminal procedures law which is being enforced on all without discrimination in regards to nationality, religion or race," he added.
The British woman had claimed that she was attacked by a waiter while semi-conscious in a hotel toilet.
However, the police said closed-circuit television footage has confirmed that the suspect did not enter the bathroom after her

The Barracuda Bandits

As a bit of background, alcohol can be legally purchased in hotel bars and restaurants in Dubai/Abu Dhabi but it must be consumed on the premises. If you're a resident, you can purchase alcohol and keep it at your home if you (a) are non-Muslim, and (b) hold a liquour licence issued by the Police (form to fill out, AED160 to pay). Once you have your licence you can then go along to a branch of the two authorised alcohol retailers to make your purchases.
The two companies, A&E (African & Eastern) or MMI (Maritime Mercantile International), have branches throughout Dubai hidden descretely behind unmarked doors. Interestingly MMI is a subsidiary of the Emirates Group.

Now this is all very fine but both A&E and MMI charge 30% tax on the alcohol they sell. To get around this there are a couple of places in another Emirate, where expat shoppers can buy alcohol without paying tax, thus making it a lot cheaper than buying from the authorised suppliers in Dubai and AD. The main "Hole in the Wall" (HITW) at the Barracuda Beach Resort is hardly a "hole" but a large well stocked off-licence with a wide selection of wine, beers and spirits from all over the world including the infamous Indian whiskey. The off-licence is attached to a hotel/resort (they do a really nice curry in the main dining room). On Fridays and Saturdays, the HITW is Expat Central and you're sure to meet someone you know pushing their trolley loaded with fine supplies in maybe the arak department or the Jordanian wine display.

Rumours started circulating several years ago of expats who had been tailed after leaving the HITW and making their way back to Dubai through the Emirate of Sharjah. Sharjah is 'dry', no alcohol anywhere, any time, and transporting alcohol through that emirate, even if its just one bottle of wine, is illegal. The rumours tell of the expat car being bumped by the tailing car, the occupants of which then demand money in exchange for not calling the police to arrest the expat for transporting illegal alcohol. Often the expat is escorted to the nearest ATM to withdraw the maximum amount available. I thought these stories might be urban legend until we received a call from a friend who'd just been on the receiving end of what I've just described. He was shocked and also AED3,000 poorer as that was all he had in his account.

Since then accounts of the "Barracuda Bandits" have started appearing in the Dubai press, these two stories from 7 Days:
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Tuesday 12 May, 2009 from David Carter
Last week I happened to be in Umm Al Quwain for some business during the day. Part of the work involved a meeting with the client, who happened to be at one of the famous resorts in Umm Al Quwain.

As I headed back to Dubai, I noticed I was being followed by a grey Honda Accord with two lads in national dress in it.As we entered Sharjah, the traffic built up and I slowed down. The grey Honda came up behind me and nudged my car, resulting in some scratches. We pulled over to the side of the road and the two lads proceeded to accuse me of being drunk, telling me that the cops would arrest me.

Since I hadn’t touched a drink, I was more than willing to get the cops involved. Then they started to accuse me of transporting alcohol.Again untrue. The lads demanded they search my car. I refused saying that let the cops get here and if the police needed to, they could search my car. Finally the lads came to the point, asking me for dhs1,500 for them not to get the cops involved.

By this point I had had it and called the cops myself. As soon as I had done this, the two lads jumped in their car and sped off.

When the police arrived I told them the whole story and gave them the number plate of the Honda. My advice to all people returning from Umm Al Quwain, is to not fear these blackmailers. Do not let them search your car. Call the cops and of course, never drink and drive.

Sunday 17 May, 2009 from "Ben"
I too almost became a victim of the ‘Barracuda HWY Bandits’.They were waiting for me at one of the roundabouts on the road between Emirates road and the coast road in a black 90’s model Lexus with scratches and dents all over its bumpers.

As I entered the roundabout (well stocked with fine beverages), they also entered and almost touched my bumper. The driver then started flashing his lights at me and pulled in front of my car trying to make me stop. Knowing what was happening and being in a much bigger Land Cruiser, I ignored him and put my foot on the gas. He then gave up and turned around at the next roundabout to go back for the next victim. I agree with Cliff, that the staff or someone at the Barracuda is calling ahead to let these bandits know which cars to target.

My advice to anyone who finds themselves in this situation is, do not stop, even if they touch your car. Drive to a police station in Dubai if you are worried about insurance etc. (just drop your cargo off first).

A Public Service Announcement

Barracuda at Umm Al Quwain closes for Ramadan at 7pm on Friday 29th August and will reopen on the first day of Eid.