More Insanity in UAE: Expat couple beaten up by Emirati in IKEA

A reader forwarded me the following great link commenting about the case of 3 Emirati brothers who beat the crap out of an Expat couple in the Dubai IKEA cafeteria, for, er, sitting at their table.

The original story in the National is here.

His final 2 paragraphs sum it up pretty beautifully.

Wall St. WTF

...
Obviously an attack on a pregnant woman by three Emirati men in the middle of an IKEA cafeteria is horrific in its’ own right and pretty hard to understand. What’s more, Dubai is completely dependent on foreigners to do most of the work, to move there, buy apartments and set up businesses in order to dig Dubai out of its deep dark hole. You would think that the authorities would deal harshly with the culprits. Besmirching the reputation of Dubai as a tolerant multicultural hub poses an existential threat to Dubai itself. Alas, it is not so. The assault occurred in June of 2009, the first hearing was in August 2010. All three assailants are free men in a city where hundreds are in prison for bounced checks. Two of them failed to even show up for the hearing and were not even required to provide an explanation. It seems also that this is a civil case. Apparently if you are Emirati beating the hell out of a non-Emirati man and his pregnant non-Emirati wife is not a crime.

It’s their country, they can do what they want, but if you ask me this is no way to run a country completely dependent on its reputation among foreigners. As sad as the article itself is the comment at the bottom from an Emirati: “they should have moved.” They probably will, and not to the next table but rather to the next country and if enough foreigners decide to follow them the creditors will beat the hell out of Dubai.

Maybe the 3 nut-case Emiratis can claim they were under the influence of the Swedish meatballs. It is, afterall, the sort of defense that has been successfully used before in the UAE.

Photo: The mad Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan torturing a grain supplier: obviously only because of his medication.

As ever, UAE - Best Avoided

More tales of imprisonment and Catch 22 in Dubai

Readers,

Another cautionary tale of the draconian laws in Dubai and the obscene powers available to the banks in the UAE to imprison expats, from the BBC online. [TWI - thx for the link!]

The Catch-22 aspects of the UAE's immature laws with regard to debt and the absence of a personal bankrupcy law are scary indeed. More on that to come soon.



Dragon's advice on the UAE remains, as before, "Best Avoided"

BBC News

Homeless in Dubai

18 July 2010 Last updated at 03:45 ET Help
Nicholas Warner is British and sleeping on the street in Dubai. He got into a dispute with his bank, Emirates NBD, initially over whether his credit card repayments had been made.

He went on holiday at Christmas and the bank says that by leaving the country without its permission while they were in a dispute, he got reclassified as a so-called "debt skipper" - one of the many expats who leave Dubai in a hurry with large debts, never to return.

When he arrived back at Dubai airport, he was arrested. His passport was seized by police on the authority of the bank.

Although he was released and tried to negotiate with the bank he got into further difficulties.

He had been working as a strategy adviser for an alternative medicine company, but his employer decided it was safer to let him go while he sorted everything out.

Emirates NBD is refusing to let his passport be released until the debts are paid. Nicholas has no way of paying them without a job. And he cannot get a job without being able to show he's in the country legally. For that, he needs his passport.

Read more:
Destitute in Dubai: One man's story

PS: The Dragon is still on leave, like everyone else. Expect delays and occasional champagne-induced poor typography...

Draconian debt laws in the UAE. A Tale of Warning - Part Three

It's been a busy week, and I have to assume you already read the obvious stuff: the Omani Tennis coach busted front page, Muscat Daily, as having served 3 years in a US prison as a sex offender after getting consensually involved with a girl under 16 (who is now here with him). The quoted use of the word "grooming" in the article was comedy gold too.

What else?

The vast sums being planned for more desalination and power.

The law suit between Shell Oman Marketing and alledgedly - Al Sirooj, a major francisee(? rumour 1), or against Shell and a Government Company like OOC or ORPC over imported bunkering fuel???? (rumour 2).

The strange and eerie case of the sudden disappearance of fantabulous local blogger Muscato. I do fear for his safety.

And, I hope you didn't miss this incredible post about women's rights in south Omsn and the Sultanate in general by the wonderful Dhofari Gucci. Recommended reading.


Anyhow, so here's something else.

Continued from Part Two.

In theory Oman has on the books a lot of UAE-similarly ill-defined wacky laws, where imprisonment is an option. But fortunately the ROP are generally blessed with common sense, and a naturally tendency to want things sorted out amicably without requiring too much paperwork for the courts.

And a big difference: Here in Oman, employers usually take liability for debt (or in the case of Omanis, the banks are asked to forgive the debt. More on that story soon.)

This situation in the UAE, fragmented police forces and varying degrees of application of very ill-defined laws, is creating an environment where expats are being blackmailed and extorted by officials in the UAE and in the banks. These officials use the threat of imprisonment without due cause as a weapon, and it's proving very profitable.

Just because you live safely in Oman doesn't mean you can ignore this problem. Anyone in the UAE who is in a debt trap situation might wanty to visit Debt Prison . Net , a great site that shows there can be a solution oif you're willing to work hard and take a risk.




Now, here's a very scary tale from an Oman based Expat who is also an ex-UAE resident from many years ago (she chooses to remain anonymous). The following is another true story:

Busted at the Border

Dear Dragon,
...
Roughly a year ago (2009) I went for one of many trips to Dubai, in my car, alone, to visit friends and do some shopping. My last visit prior to this had been in Dec -08 for the same reason.

I take off early in the morning, reach the border round about 10am, as usual show my passport (European) and expect the stamps and to off to my breakfast date, and further some shopping.

Well, instead I'm told I've I need to see the supervisor... Ok, I get into the portacabin and in a small "office" is a man with a computer telling me with a smile on his face that I'm black listed!!!

WHAT!!!??? How, where, when, WHAT!!!

[The Debt Saga Begins]
Apparently on his screen it says I owe "someone" 14 000 DHS![US$3500] My heart races, I'm totally surprised! I used to live in Dubai many years ago but as you stated in your post, to leave the country you have to clear your bank, which I did and got the papers and release letter accordingly. I've been back MANY times after leaving Dubai and never before incountered any problems.

I'm taken to Hatta police station, call my husband, in tears, trying to tell him about the situation though I really don't know what the actual deal is. Here at the station the amount "owed" is suddenly 24 000 Dhs [US$6000].

Now all I want is to get out of there and home so I offer to pay the money there and then and deal with the rest later but NO, not possible since the case has been taken to court!!!???

I'm taken to a big police station, by "jailbus", downtown in Dubai, sat infront of an officer who's suppose to take my statement. He tells me there is a case against me for fraud. I have, according to him, signed 2 cheques, one in 2004 and one in 2005.

I'm totally & utterly stunned! I show him my passport which proves that I was not in Dubai on the stated dates, which he agrees is "odd", but keeps pointing at his screen saying "it says here".

I'm upset beyond words, not knowing what to do; he's writing a statement, in Arabic, that he wants me to sign. Not knowing what it realy reads, for all I know I could be confessing to murder. He goes off, comes back and tells me I have 2 options - me thinking one of them is leaving my id etc stay at my friends house over night to come back in the morning and sort this mistake out. Well, his two options are either staying in the prison at the station or go to the main prison... imagine my dispare!!!

[Immediate Prisonment is the only option]
I'm then "escorted" by a rather large female police officer to the prison at the station. The metal door is massive, at least 20 cm thick! It slam behind me and infront of me are a desk with 4 more large female guards telling me to give them all my possessions incl. my mobile, the only line to the outside, my husband and freedom!

I'm allowed to use my Omani rials to buy a phone card. Then I'm told to walk through an opening in the wall... that's it... I'm scared, confused and feel like I'm in a living nightmare...

I walk through the opening into a massive rom or more like a warehouse with an open "yard" in the middle cells along the walls with bunkbeds, already occupied to the brim, a second floor overlooking the "yard". A girl, who I later found out had been there for 4 months for slapping her Emirati boyfriend, came up to me with an old mattress and an old blanket she told me "find yourself a corner on the floor" Honestly!!! I have never done anything against the law in my life, been hard working until I had children and this is indescribable!

I didn't sleep much, as you can imagine: the flourecent lights stay on 24/7, toilets are holes in the ground with no privacy - hence my decision not to eat or drink again until I get out. Food served 3 times a day; you can bribe the guards to bring you food from the outside coffeeshop but I was not interested in any of it.

The girls inside are just normal girls who have been either wrongly inprisoned, like myself, or actually comitted a "crime" such as fraud, unpaid debts, having a boyfriend(!). A sad sad thing is the asian girls in there still called me, as a westerner, "madam"!!

I cried my self through the night, listening to endless stories of different destinies: that normally if you are accused of fraud you'll have at least 1 month to wait for your first trial, where you are taken in front of a judge and you have to state if you are guilty or not, and that is then recorded. Then you go back to the prison to await a further date in court where the judge will decide if you are guilty or not, and a minimum for fraud is 3 months...

[The Debt Keeps Getting Bigger]
Things just gets worse and worse... I'm on one of the 2 payphones available in the hall every 3 hours to get an update of the situation and it turns out that when the husband of my friend and his emirati PRO go to the bank, the one claiming that I signed the cheques, the manager there tells them it is not 24 000 it is 77 000 Dhs!!!!! [US$20,000] BUT he can do us "a favor" and give some discount (!!!???) - 15,000 Dhs worth of discount - so it takes the sum to 62 000 Dhs...

[The Payoff]
Luckily my friend's husband has the money, pays the bank, gets the paper of no claim, gets to the court where a judge is in a good mood and decides they have better things to do than persue this case, sigs it off, CID sign their part 3 minutes to 2pm (when they close) and papers are taken to the police station.

@ 6pm one of the guards, comes in shouts my name and tells me you are free to go!!!!


[A Hollywood Ending]
Everyone in that prison stood up, clapped their hands and whistled... like a good old american movie!!

My nightmare was over, we were 6500 rials poorer but that was a later problem - I was out! It was a bittersweet feeling seeing all this well meaning individuals, some actually had boken the laws other just very unfortunate and without the friends and financial means I have... their faces still haunts me!

After this, when I'm back home in Oman, we inquired about legal help to have this matter brought up again in court, and maybe be able to get back our money. We were advised to "let it go" as it would cost us probably the same amount, if not more, to hire someone. Even then no one would ever admit to being wrong, so we would get nothing by doing so, just more trouble. Plus being scared to death of ever having to go through that again - let it go!

The most expensive trip to Dubai in my life, but I was home, with my family and safe - that is worth 6500 rials.

Hearing similar stories afterwards it seems that there might be some kind of "inside" job going on in the UAE banks. Someone see the accounts being "closed" and they have the information, wait a while, then use the account...

I don't know but it is worth mentioning for others that when and if you leave any country and you "close" your accounts - keep the papers saying so! No matter how long after you've left!

In my case after 8 years, and 5 moves later - with no papers - it was rather costly!

All I can say is OMG. Just be careful folks. The UAE is not like Oman.

It's getting more and more totally bat-shit insane in our brotherly neighbouring Emirati state-lets.

Muscat Confidential rates the UAE a big : AVOID IF POSSIBLE.

All rights reserved, copyright Muscat Confidential.

Dubai loses the plot - no sexy sexy times for expats. And the airport project strikes water

Photo: Thinking of a holiday in Dubai? You had better behave! [getty images]

The way Dubai is repeatedly imprisoning people for insignificant 'offenses' is certain to start to impact the tourist trade, as word spreads that you could be thrown in jail for such terrible crimes as kissing in public or sending sexy text messages.

Someone is losing the plot in the Emirate.

In the latest story, 2 Emirates cabin crew have been given 3 months in prison for sending each other sexy text messages, reduced on appeal from the original sentence of six months and deportation. The woman's husband had obtained the texts from the national telecom provider in a divorce dispute, and seems to be somewhat filled with a desire for revenge and to win custody of his child. It seems sending sexy texts in the UAE amounts to the crime of "coercion to the commitment of sin".

You've been warned.

The National has the story, but it's all over the net today.

Airline pair jailed over sex texting
Awad Mustafa
March 17. 2010
DUBAI // Two Emirates Airline cabin crew have been jailed for three months for exchanging lewd text messages.

RS, 42, a flight attendant, and EB, 47, a cabin services supervisor, were convicted of “coercion to commit sin” after sending each other sexually themed SMS messages, according to court documents released yesterday.

The pair, both Indian, were sentenced to six months in prison and deportation by the Dubai Court of Misdemeanors in December.

The court said the texts “fulfilled all the necessary angles of coercion to the commitment of sin”.

The Appeals Court upheld that decision last week. But it halved their jail sentences and scrapped the deportation orders. There was not enough evidence to prove that the pair had extramarital relations, it added.

The flight attendant’s sister, BM, 25, was also convicted of perjury and sentenced to three months and deportation by the lower court. Her deportation order was withdrawn on appeal.

The case first went to court after the flight attendant’s husband, SG, filed a lawsuit against his wife in March 2009 claiming that she was involved in an illicit relationship with the supervisor.

The couple had been embroiled in a divorce battle since 2007.

SG has now gained sole custody of their four-year-old son, although it was not clear when the couple divorced.

During the divorce proceedings, SG requested that the courts order Etisalat to produce copies of his wife’s text messages, which, he said, proved the illicit relationship.


The telecoms provider turned them over to the court in October 2008.

Five months later, the flight attendant’s husband filed a criminal complaint against her, charging her with having an affair and saying her text messages were an insult to Islam.

She told police that her sister sent the messages to the supervisor, who also denied any relationship with RS. He told officers that he had been seeing her sister for the past four years. Prosecutors decided that was untrue, however, leading to the perjury charge against the sister.

Meanwhile, Muscat Airport runway costs go up at least Half a Billion dollars.

Muscat's new airport is in trouble. A Ministry official was quoted in the papers as saying the new runway would be delayed for 2 years and cost an extra $500 million due to hitting seawater.

What the official didn't mention that the project screwed up big time. Not only did they skimp by not doing basic geotechnical investigation - drilling exploratory boreholes to sample the rock and soil where the runway was planned - but my sources tell me similar problems had already hit the sewage waste water project last year, and so should have been obvious.

The problem is the contractors needed to dig quite deep to make a proper runway that can be engineered to last and withstand being pounded by planes landing all day. And the excavation, on land right by the ocean, needed to be a lot deeper than the level of the aquifer. Doh!

My sources, who know a thing or two about engineering, also said $500 million was a low estimate, and it could end up adding an extra billion dollars, almost doubling the cost of the runway. This is because they will have to build it up even higher, and thus needing a LOT more rock and sand.

Reuters reported that the extension of Oman's main airport in Muscat will be delayed by 2 years and may cost the state up to an extra USD 500 million after runway excavations hit seawater.

The official said that the Muscat airport extension will now be completed in 2014, not in 2012 as expected due to soft ground which contractors come across in some places. He said that it would cost the government up to USD 500 million to pay for reinforcements to fill affected ground in places where civil work excavations hit seawater.
...

Speaking of cock-ups, in other news, The Asian Beach Games project, despite rumours to the contrary, will apparently be ready on time. Even my sources confirm this, not just OMRAN.

However, the project is beset with problems, with chaotic redesigns on the fly coupled with the immovable date for completion in November this year, as Oman hosts the Asian Beach Games. The bits that will appear on TV are already finished, and the hotel will be OK. But the athletes village will be a Heath Robinson affair that will not be built to last, and plans to create yet another OMRAN mini-city at the site have been shelved, replaced by a now 4 star hotel (was 3 star) and the usual Integrated Tourist Development we know and love.

There are also persistent rumours of sweet contracts being awarded** to people who just happen to be closely related to senior people at Omran and the Ministries of both Sport and Tourism. To enable things to be done super quickly, CEO of OMRAN, Mr. Wael bin Ahmed Al Lawati, appears to have been given the ability to by-pass normal tender board procedures. I'm sure that there is no way such a removal of standard oversight would lead to contracts being given to relatives or buddies.


Coincidentally and totally unrelated, as the deadline approaches the budget is going through the roof. So while the project will scrape home and will look great on TV, the costs will be huge and the final product nothing like as grand as what was originally approved.

Small wonder the leadership of the project, under the responsibility of the Muscat Asian Beach Games Organising Committee (MABGOC) and Director General Eng. Habib Macki, have been replaced resigned. On Tuesday, Muscat Daily reported that executive Director Sheikh Soud bin Hamed Al Rawahi had decided to spend more time with his family due to the pressure of work.... In January, Talal al Kishry the deputy Director of Operations resigned also.

But it's only Government money after all.

** Dear Mr State Auditor, maybe have a look at the contracts surrounding the Convention Centre...

UAE experiments with unintended consequences: illegal to fire Emiratis

Yes, those wacky Emiratis! Two interesting news articles in today's Gulf News.

First, UAE Labour Law
The Emirates seem determined to make locals as unattractive to have as employees as possible. A proposal to ban companies in the private sector from sacking Emiratis other than for labour law violations has been proposed.


The proposal to make new graduates in the UAE, like these fresh faced young ladies, as attractive to employ as a ball and chain.


After a UAE real estate development company decided to axe a few locals, what with the collapse of the real estate market, lack of credit and buyers, and a huge potential overhang of new apartments already nearing completion meaning work was rather thin on the ground, the disgruntled employees took their case to the Ministry of Manpower claiming arbitrary dismissal.

Fair enough, this sort of legal challenge to redundancy happens everywhere. But the response of the Labour Ministry is typical of the regional response to such issues: if there's a problem, simply declare the symptom of that problem illegal, rather than perhaps looking at what the root causes are, and addressing those.

So, the razor-sharp minds in the UAE Ministry are proposing to simply make it almost impossible for private firms to fire an Emirati. Brilliant.

The likely result of such a law will, I trust, be obvious to most readers. No-one who owns a private firm will want to hire an Emirati. Those that do, will - if they are clever - devise means around the problem, such as having a holding company with all the cash, and subsidiary companies that can hold the employees. When necessary, such a subsidiary might go bankrupt...

This is a stupid law. It might arguably "preserve the jobs of Emiratis" who already have one, but it will be highly damaging to employment prospects of future Emiratis.

Unfortunately, Oman has similar laws. In fact, the Government have basically told all companies in Oman over the past couple of months that they had better not be laying off any Omani staff in response to under the pretext of the global recession, as - of course - Oman is protected from these overseas problems. (Getting rid of Expats is fine, naturally, and with little in the way of legal protection).

The answer should be to make it more attractive to hire locals, perhaps by progressively taxing foreign labour, making it as easy to hire and fire locals as Expats, and having educational programs that turn locals into useful potential employees rather than work-shy holders of some useless qualification certificate. Unemployment insurance or social welfare needs to be put in place. Rules on minimum redundancy payments too. And pensions made transferable between companies.

Oh wait, that all seems like a lot of work. Much easier to just make the problem illegal and then state that Government has solves the problem!

Proposal moots job security for Emiratis
By Wafa Issa, Staff Reporter
Published: February 14, 2009, 23:12

Dubai: A proposal to ban companies in the private sector from sacking Emiratis other than for labour law violations is under consideration.

The National Human Resource Development and Employment Authority (Tanmia) has submitted a draft proposal to the Ministry of Labour under which cases pertaining to the termination of Emiratis working in the private sector are to be evaluated.

Feddah Lootah, the acting director-general at Tanmia, said the proposal aims to safeguard jobs of Emiratis in the private sector. "The main task of the authority is to preserve the jobs of Emiratis," he said.

The ministry is looking into the proposal but no time-frame has been given as to when a decision could be made.
The proposal suggests that the termination of Emiratis in private sector companies is to be considered arbitrary unless the employee has violated the labour law.

The violations which could lead to a worker's peremptory dismissal are outlined in Article 120 in the Labour Law.

Article 120 clearly mentions ten cases in which the employer is entitled to terminate a worker's contract. Non-performance of basic duties as set out under the contract and repeated violations despite warnings, professional mistakes which result in a substantial material loss to the employer, and clear disregard for safety instructions at the workplace are some of the clauses that can be brought against erring employees.

Last week, Gulf News reported that a group of Emiratis had filed a complaint against Al Futtaim Group for what they said was arbitrary termination. The case is still under review at the ministry after the sacked employees had sought immediate reinstatement.

The Tanmia proposal also stipulates that any company in the private sector forced to terminate Emiratis as part of restructuring policies aimed at increasing competitiveness, review of production costs in tough times, or in cases involving mergers between companies should duly inform the ministry of labour about such a move before any decision.

Also, as per the proposal, no company will be allowed to sack an Emirati before it has exhausted all avenues to find a suitable solution.

The proposal outlines a number of steps that a company should mandatorily satisfy before terminating Emiratis such as implementing a part-time system, repackaging salaries on the condition that they don't go below the minimum wage for Emiratis (which is between Dh3,000-Dh5,000 - depending on the qualifications), relocating them within the company or training them to handle other positions in the company.

Additionally, an employer in the private sector will also not be allowed to terminate an Emirati on the pretext that he/she does not have the required qualifications and skills, if the employee has completed her/his probation period.
...

Secondly, a disturbing Valentine's Day tale of a man who confessed and was convicted of forceably raping his defacto-wife's 4 female children over many years... The police got involved when one of the girls finally got the strength to go to the Police.

The result for the girls? All were sentenced to 80 lashes for "allowing" the man to have sex with them. And he was deported after a brief spell in jail, instead of being stoned to death.

Gee, I wonder why so few rapes are reported happen in the Arab world, compared to the morally corrupt West?

Death-row rapist deported after admitting to charges
By Bassma Al Jandaly, Staff Reporter
Published: February 14, 2009, 23:12

Ajman: A man who was to be stoned to death for raping his mistress's young daughters has been deported, Gulf News has learnt.

Abdul Aziz, a Pakistani, was sentenced for repeatedly raping the four Emirati girls, who were then aged between 12-14. Their father, an Emirati, was married to an Indian woman. When he died his widow then got into a relationship with Abdul Aziz. Gulf News earlier reported Abdul Aziz had married the Indian woman, but police investigations revealed they were not married.

"The woman who used to live in Al Ain, told police after her arrest in Ajman that she married Abdul Aziz soon after the death of her Emirati husband and the father of her daughters, but the truth is that there was no official and approved marriage contract between the woman and the man," a police official said. Abdul Aziz lived with the woman and her daughters for more than 12 years, claiming that he is their step father.

The girls and their mother gave birth to more than 12 children from him. One of the girls was eight months pregnant when they were arrested in 2005, according to police. DNA tests by Dubai Police proved that Abdul Aziz was the father.

The woman's youngest daughter reported the matter to police when Abdul Aziz tried to attack her. He was arrested and subsequently sentenced to death by stoning. Gulf News learnt that Abdul Aziz was later deported.

The accused admitted his guilt at all stages of the court proceedings. He told the court he was the father of some of the children, but some others "were not his."

The mother was accused of aiding and abetting him and forging the birth certificates of her daughters' children. She has also been deported, Gulf News has learnt. The four girls were sentenced to 80 lashes each. The girls were charged with "allowing" the man to have sex with them.

The victims, who are now aged between 23 and 28, told the judge, Abdul Aziz used to threaten them with a knife, forcing them to surrender to him.
Police said Abdul Aziz and the woman lived together for several years. Police said that when neighbours and relatives in Al Ain noticed something was wrong, the couple moved to Ajman.

The girls told police that some of their children were born in India and some in the UAE. Their mother used to tell people in the UAE that her daughters were married in India and she used to tell relatives in India that her daughters were married in the UAE.

Police said the girls and their children who are now being taking care of by their relatives in Al Ain are suffering psychologically. "They are naive and illiterate, They never went to school," a police official said.