There’s yet another example of the zero-tolerance policy in the UAE to drugs.

The British Radio 1 disc jockey Grooverider (real name Raymond Bingham) had 2.16 grams of cannabis in his pocket when he arrived to do a show in Dubai.

The excuses of ” It was a small amount. Back home I would not even get prosecuted.” and “he was unaware of the laws” were quite rightly ignored by the court.

The minimum sentence of four years jail was handed down.

I’ve talked about it before on Metblog - there has been extensive media coverage, the internet and blogosphere has plenty of information, the British Foreign Office (and many other countries’) Travel Information warn of the laws.

Yet people still come here carrying drugs.

The onus is on visitors to any country to check the laws before they arrive. Particularly those stupid enough to be drug users.

The story is reported in the Times of London.

Something I drew attention to back in November was Dubai’s tough anti-drug laws.

It’s surfaced again because there’s a web campaign under way for the release of German citizen and UK resident Cat Le-Huy, who was detained under the laws. The campaign says that he is not guilty and was falsely imprisoned, the medication he was carrying was not banned and the ‘marijuana’ he was accused of carrying was in fact specks of dirt. Several bloggers have joined in, while the main site pushing the issue seems to be thetruthaboutdubai.com.

According to these sites, Le-Huy was detained on suspicion that the (legal) Melatonin bottle found in his bag contained other pills. They say that tests conducted by the authorities indicated that the bottle did not contain any other substances and the Melatonin was cleared, that Le-Huy’s urine sample also tested negative for any drug use that the German Embassy expected that Le-Huy would be released at this time, but authorities have called on an option to extend his detainment in order to investigate the specks of dirt that they found.

Because I have no way of telling the truth of Le-Huy’s case I won’t comment on it. Except to say that if he is indeed innocent then he should be released immediately with at the very least a fulsome apology and some sort of compensation.

I must point out though that there are some tabloid-style hysterics on the site though that are misleading for travellers in general, and that’s dangerous.

They also make ridiculous demands of the tourism authority.

I’ll go into both later.
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A follow-on to my posting last week about the severity of Dubai’s drug laws, which visitors often seem not to take seriously.

A Canadian brought in a tiny amount of marijuana, 0.66 grams for personal use.

He fired his layer, pleaded guilty and asked the court for a ‘fast verdict’, saying he would pay a fine and leave.

He has been sentenced to four years in jail followed by deportation.

There was a report in Gulf News the other day that deserves wider international coverage. I wonder whether it was picked up by media overseas, because it really is important that people visiting Dubai understand the laws.

The report was regarding the laws in relation to drugs and began:
“Passengers who get caught carrying tiny amounts of drugs in Dubai face between four to fifteen years in jail and cannot escape with a fine as some of them assume, cautioned a judge.”

The judge made the comments after a case in which a Canadian was charged with possessing 0.66 grams of marijuana for personal use.

The suspect pleaded guilty and asked presiding judge Fahmi Mounir to give him a speedy judgement so he could pay a fine.

He said he needed a “fast judgement” and would pay a fine and then leave.
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The ambitious emirate, already a tourism giant, wants to run U.S. ports and be the Wall Street of the Persian Gulf. Isn’t that the American way?
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The fastest-growing city on earth, Dubai is spending mind-boggling sums on construction and is about to swallow up P&O in its bid to be a global maritime power. Given the scale of its ambition, could it become the most important place on the planet?

Adam Nicolson of The Guardian reports from ‘Mushroom City’
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News that will surprise no one - bigamy is the greatest cause of breaking up families in the UAE. Yes - surprise surprise - Emirati women aren’t thrilled with inequal laws that allow men to have second, third and fourth families, but women only one:

Of all the divorces that take place in the national community, 31.9 per cent is on account of men’s bigamy, says a study published by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs magazine.

Of all the marriages registered in the UAE by nationals, 28 per cent happen between UAE national men and foreign women, and most of these are second marriages, provoking the first wife to seek divorce, the study reveals.

Polygamy is an essentially backwards custom that may have served a purpose in pre-Islamic and early Islamic times, but now is essentially an anachronism. Even the prophet Mohammed wisely tried to curtail it, limiting men to only four wives.

In these more enlightened times with equal numbers of men and women in the world (and less women in certain countries) it should be banned.

There’s a piece in the Gulf News today, titled - National women complain of discrimination at workplace

Not sure how many of you’ve read it, its basically about 3 ‘national’ ladies complaining to the Labour Ministry about the working conditions at a bank. Apparently they’re a little pissed off after being ‘made to enter data’ despite their degrees and qualifications, having funds deducted from their salaries for the earthquake relief without being informed prior, not being paid for unauthorised days off, having to ’sometimes’ work extra hours without pay, and having only a 1-day weekend, among other issues.

They feel they’re being ‘forced out’. Now.. why would that be?
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