A British woman held in Dubai over Facebook posts calling her ex-husband’s wife a “horse”, is free to return to the UK after being ordered to pay a fine, campaign group Detained In Dubai said.
Laleh Shahravesh, 55, was detained under strict cybercrime laws when she visited the country with her daughter Paris, 14, three years after writing the posts.
Shahravesh, from Richmond, south-west London, called Samah Al Hammadi, from Tunisia, a horse in a post after she discovered her ex-husband Pedro Correia Dos Santos had remarried in 2016.
Shahravesh was arrested when she travelled to the United Arab Emirates on 10 March for Pedro’s funeral after his death from a heart attack one week earlier.
Paris was allowed to return to Britain after the pair were held by police for 12 hours, but Shahravesh’s passport was seized, Detained In Dubai said.
On Thursday a spokesman for Detained In Dubai said: “After an emotional but anticlimactic court hearing this morning, in which the judge adjourned Laleh’s case until a later date, Detained in Dubai received the welcome news that the judge has ordered Laleh to pay a fine of 3,000 UAE Dirham (£624), and that her passport should be returned.
“She is then free to return to the UK.
“At the time of writing, Laleh’s attorney has paid the fine, and procedures are under way to recover her passport.
“She should be home by early next week.”
The Detained In Dubai spokesman added: “Laleh’s family is ecstatic.
“Daughter Paris is relieved, and all involved express their gratitude for the outpouring of public support.”
Radha Stirling, the campaign group’s chief executive, said: “We maintain that the case against Laleh should have been dismissed at the outset, and while we are pleased that her nightmare is over, her conviction on this absurd case sets a dangerous precedent.
“We are pleased that Laleh will be allowed to return home to be reunited with her daughter Paris; but serious concerns remain regarding the many risks for foreigners in the UAE, as well as the apparent docility of the UK consular staff in the Emirates and the refusal of the FCO to update its travel warnings for British citizens to provide them with a more accurate evaluation of the dangers they face in the UAE.”
Stirling added: “When cases like this are resolved either through the charges being dropped or through a governmental pardon, or the levelling of a light sentence after a concerted campaign in the international media, while the situation for the individual victim is over, the system that caused that victimisation remains in place, and abuse is inevitably going to occur again.
“In Laleh’s case, the court issued what amounts to a symbolic fine, but UAE cybercrime laws are still a loaded gun pointed at the head of anyone using the Internet.
“Anyone exercising their freedom of speech, who lives in, visits, or indeed, who may ever step foot in the UAE is at risk.
“Laws are supposed to protect people, protect their rights and freedoms; but the UAE’s cybercrime laws do the opposite.
“Everyone travelling to or through the UAE is endangered by them; and not everyone who falls victim to these laws is guaranteed media coverage. In the absence of international support, they will be subjected to the full force of the law.”