"Earlier this week, Keith Andrew Brown, a 43-year-old from Middlesex was imprisoned for four years after 0.003g cannabis was found in the tread of his shoe.
Brown was stopped in transit from Ethiopia to London last September.
The amount of the drug found on his shoe would not be visible to the naked eye and weighs less than a single grain of sugar.
On February 2 a German citizen was detained for an alleged drugs offence when entering Dubai.
Cat Le-Huy, 31, an employee of the production company that makes Big Brother who was living in London, was found carrying melatonin pills to help with jetlag and sleeping problems.
Authorities also claim they discovered fragments in one of his bags which they believe to be hashish.
Le-Huy, head of technical at Endemol UK, maintains the fragments are dirt and has since been held in a detention centre while the fragments, melatonin and his urine are tested. He is expected to be transferred to a prison today.
More than 2,000 people have now signed a petition asking for the British-based technical expert to be released.
[...]
"We even have reports of the imprisonment of a Swiss man for 'possession' of three poppy seeds on his clothing after he ate a bread roll at Heathrow."
In reply to the arrest of Le-Huy, 2 websites (http://thetruthaboutdubai.com and http://freediz.com/), a facebook group with 500 members, and a petition containing over 3000 signatures have popped up
Posts
18 comments:
Seems like it's time for Sheikh Mohammed to visit airport security and do a shake down of the department--fire the head. Dirt, breakfast bun seeds, residue on the soles of shoes... this is Gestapo like!
I would never sign a petition to free someone -- it's a pointless exercise. But, I would sign a petition to the UAE citizens to have _them_ petition their government to change those ridiculous drug laws. Those enforcing these laws are just... well, frankly, not fit to be enforcing any law.
While I feel safe, they have the technology to detect a sugar-grain size substance and classify it dope, yet the same people turn a blind eye to anabolic steroids whose usage by sportsmen and gym fanatics is detrimental in the long run.
How this chunk of steroids misses the technology while a grain shows on the screen is way beyond me?
Unless the chunk value is immense while the grain is loose change!
I think one point to note is that the first case involves someone who was only passing through dubai; A friend of mine pointed out the weight of a grain of sand...
a grain of sand weighs approximately 13 mg (0.013 grams)-- Dubai Police is trying to arrest someone for four years for having something that weighs ~4 times less than a single grain of salt.
According to this site an average marijuana joint is 0.0136 ounces (0.385553515 grams); exactly how it even sounds sensible to arrest someone for four years when they would need at least 30 times as much of the drug to do anything with it seems totally stupid.
Seeing as in the first case, the person walked through Dubai Airport there is a definate possibility they picked it up on their shoe in the airport.
It had coverage on BBC World Service today, so as it's getting Brand Duai some bad publicity hopefully The Big Boss will get onto it and sort the nonsense out.
The 'justice system' has always been a big failing in Dubai. It is long overdue for a complete overhaul. There are too many cases of people arrested/jailed for having a grain of hashish stuck to a shoe, or for having a few poppy seeds (for God's sake!) in a pocket, or for bounced cheques, or for mistaken identity, all manner of things. Do the Police, the Public Prosecution and the Judges think they are doing a good job? They are in a way: they are doing a great job of making Dubai look like a dangerous place for innocent people to be.
I've just seen a fairly long piece on BBC World TV about it too...
Scary! Next time, I fly to DXB direct, I'll make sure to wipe shoes (in-flight), lest I may have inadvertently stepped on a poppy seed/ marijuana dirt - and stay away from bagels for an entire week!
It may interest some people here to read the FARK thread on the situation
How are people to race their Ferrari's and Porsche's along Sk. Zayed at 180kmph safely when at any moment some junkie hopped up on poppy seed bagels could recklessly not get out of their way in time and cause an accident.
Honestly though, this issue is an embarrassment to Dubai and The UAE.
Yes but why would any FOOL on this planet travel with Drugs regardless of the amount?
and honestly a petition on a website?- like the petitions actually work here.... how many of you filled out the Salik ones?
and a group on Facebook?- I'm sure the Authorities log in there to give a damn.
Get real, these guys are not all celebrities...
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1304600,00.html
btw, Spinneys were (maybe still are) selling bagels and rolls with poppy seeds. Choithrams sells crackers with poppy seeds.
seabee has a pretty in-depth post on this over at metroblogging dubai
don't say we haven't warned you ;)
It's getting a lot of coverage now. The BBC website has the story, Fair Trials International is on the case, tourist websites and other forums are talking about it.
Maybe the law will be looked at, or at least how it's being interpreted...
What an excellent link sam "FARK" website should be renamed to be the UAE Community blog...same kind of comments...
The Dubai authorities will respond only when they see real estate values falling because potential buyers are frightened away.
smoking marijuana is as legal as smoking tobacco,lite em up i say
I say, drug dealers, especially hashish dealers, throw all you've got at those stupid law enforcment monkeys and do what you do best and smuggle as much as you can and basically fill up Dubai with pot heads.I think thats the best way to change laws around here. I will celebrate the day I can sit back roll a fat joint and smoke high high HIGH
Post a Comment
NOTE: By making a post/comment on this blog you agree that you are solely responsible for its content and that you are up to date on the laws of the country you are posting from and that your post/comment abides by them.
To read the rules click here
If you would like to post content on this blog click here