Man arrested for touching another man’s hip freed from Dubai jail
Image: Photo: Facebook / Jamie Harron.
A British man jailed in Dubai for touching another man’s hip has arrived back in the UK after his release.
Jamie Harron was arrested in July, accused of putting his hand on a man’s hip in the Rock Bottom bar to avoid spilling a drink, The Telegraph has reported.
Charged with public indecency, he faced up to three years in jail in the conservative United Arab Emirates.
The 27-year-old electrician lost his job following the arrest.
He had been working in Afghanistan, and was on a stopover in Dubai when he was detained over the incident in the bar.
Harron was sentenced to three months in jail, but authorities dropped the charges and returned his passport this week.
He said he was relieved to be back home in the UK following his release.
“It feels very good, I’m very happy to be home,” Harron said.
“I can’t believe it’s been four months in total.”
Radha Stirling of the campaign group Detained in Dubai, which advocated for Harron during his imprisonment, thanked Sheikh Mohammed for intervening in the case.
“This was a courageous and honourable decision on the part of Sheikh Mohammed, and while it highlights the urgent need for judicial reform in the country, it is also a hopeful sign that the United Arab Emirates’ leadership possesses the will and vision to pursue such reforms in the future,” she said.
The United Arab Emirates has strict anti-LGBTI laws.
Sex outside of heterosexual marriage is a crime, and trans women have been arrested for ‘imitating women’.
