Britons face jail in Dubai for beach sex

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Technorati Tags: sex, beach, party, binge, promiscuity, adultery, sharia
Best known as the happiest barrack in the Arab concentration camp, Dubai has set a footprint in the region through its architectural feats, its relatively relaxed, opulent lifestyle and its booming economy. Yet its permissiveness is limited, as some hard-partying Brits have recently found out. Their request to leave the country was turned down today by a judge.

The pair faces up to 6 years in jail, though a 6 months to 1 year sentence is most likely.

Beachin'

If we are to believe the prosecution, a police officer found them drunk and having sex on the Jumeirah Beach, which are both offences in the Arab country. He had to flash a torch into their faces to get their attention. He gave them a warning, but when he returned later on, they were still at it. When he gave them a second warning, Ms. Palmer, who at that time was a manager with ITP Publishing, started to insult and physically attack the officer. It seems to me that this last part is an offence in any country of the world. This is how the Daily Mail described the events:

The beach where police caught Miss Palmer and Mr Acors having sex is popular with expatriates and holidaymakers. They had met hours earlier at a champagne brunch at Le Meridien Hotel, where Miss Palmer got extremely drunk before going for a walk along the shore with her companion. A police officer later spotted the pair having sex on the sand and let them off with a caution. But they ignored the warning and were arrested when the officer returned to the scene. According to police sources, Miss Palmer launched an angry tirade at the policeman after being disturbed for a second time. She is alleged to have hurled abuse and tried to hit him with her high-heeled shoe before being restrained and taken to a cell. A source close to the couple said: 'Michelle and Vince woke up in police cells with monster hangovers, facing six years in jail. 'Vince is beside himself with worry - he never intended to offend anyone. And Michelle is absolutely devastated.' Yesterday neighbours described Mr Acors as a polite, successful businessman.

The Sun added that Ms. Palmer called the policeman "a f***** Muslim".

Love in times of Dubai

You need a license in Dubai to drink alcoho l, which she had, but he did not. It is also illegal to have sex outside the marriage - they dealt with this by getting married in jail. It is illegal to have sex in public and so is to attack a police officer, though that's illegal in most of the known universe, except perhaps in Pornucopia. Their arrest should come as no surprise, especially since the authorities are under pressure to uphold the law from conservative groups in the country which see Westerners as a corrupting influence. The police have arrested more than 500 men suspected of leering at women or photographing them on public beaches.

This is, after all, a Muslim country, with laws inspired by Sharia. Despite the arrests, most foreigners continue to drink heavily especially on Friday, when hotels have "all you can drink" for a set price.

British Binge Beyond Belief

It's no secret that the British have a reputation for partying hard, binge drinking, teenage sex and teenage pregnancies so it's no surprise that of all the (very) many nationalities living in or visiting Dubai, the Brits have most problems. The Foreign Office released some stats on Britons' misbehaviour:

Between April 2006 and March 2007 2,032 Britons were arrested in Spain, a rise of a third more than in 2005/06 and the highest number of any country visited.

The Foreign Office said that many of the arrests were due to "behaviour caused by excessive drinking".

Only 153 Britons were arrested in France, but that was a rise of almost a half on the previous 12 months.

The most likely destination for Britons to be arrested was Cyprus, then the USA and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), when arrests were taken as a proportion of the number of Britons who travelled there.

When the London Mayor decided to ban alcohol on the Tube, he almost got a riot. And talking about reputations,



a tabloid war of sorts erupted when a British citizen sued his travel agent for sending him on a trip with too many German. Bild broke the story, publishing an unflattering photo of some older topless British women, along with a list of places to avoid for being too full of British:

• Bay of Palma in Majorca
• San Antonio in Ibiza
• Playa de las Americas in Tenerife
• Ayia Napa in Cyprus
• Faliraki on the Greek island of Rhodes
• Malia in Crete

Furthermore, the tabloid suggested to its readers that they'd be safe at Euro 2008, where UK didn't make it. The German's ire was well-founded: German tourists have the opposite reputation and are sought after by hotel owners and tour operators.

You are not alone

This isn't the only case of sex on the beach in Dubai, according to The Guardian.

In a separate case, two foreign women have been jailed for a month after they were arrested for kissing and embracing on a beach. A 30-year-old Lebanese national and a 36-year-old from Bulgaria had pleaded not guilty, local reports said at the weekend.

Writes the Telegraph:

In the Double Decker, a packed London bus-themed pub near the soaring tower of the seven-star Burj Al Arab hotel, Simone Dobson nursed a vodka and orange that was possibly not her first of the day.

Yet she said that as long as revellers did not test the authorities' liberal attitudes too much, the worst that could happen after a night's carousing was a hangover.

"Both the work and social life are brilliant here," said the 36-year-old management consultant, as a middle-aged businessman drunkenly murdered the Beatles' Twist and Shout on the karoake.

"But I'm afraid anyone who did that kind of thing would be really stupid. You are in a Muslim country and you must respect their laws. If you're going to drink, you don't wander the streets afterwards - you get in a taxi and go straight home."

Let us not forget that not long ago, Singapore sentenced an American teenager to caning for stealing road signs and chewing gum in public, causing a diplomatic incident. Nobody died, and the Earth kept spinning. Nobody doubts that all these people are nice inside, but laws and customs are there to be respected. And shouldn'tlearning about other cultures be the main reason for traveling?

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