Women detained in Dubai ‘after glass of wine on plane’

[Aridane]

Reading today’s Guardian and came across this.

Swedish dentist travelling with four year old daughter from London to Dubai had a glass of wine on the flight. Taken into custody as had an invalid visa and pending return to UK. Blood test then administered to test for alcohol. As a result of which apparently she and daughter detained for three days and made to clean toilets.

Released on bail, passport confiscated, remaining in Dubai pending hearing in a year.

Can’t do a link as reading a physical newspaper.

Anyone know any more about this? Is there more to it than a glass of wine on the flight and an invalid visa?

Just seems quite odd.

I'm guessing Emirates give out wine on their planes for passengers who are flying on to more liberal countries like oman or Qatar where it is not an offence. It's a sad story but ultimately anyone travelling to a strict Arab state needs to check out the dos and don'ts first.

I've Been to dubai for a holiday. It's a lovely place and you can definitely drink alcohol there. Don't know why people are saying it's illegal. There are restrictions on where though.

1. It is certainly not xenophobic to criticise the way a Country treats its citizens and visitors.
2. I know too much about Dubai to ever set foot in it, I always wonder why anyone would bother holidaying there when there are so many lovely places in this world.

Lol at Qatar being more liberal than Dubai 😁

I went to Qatar in 1993 and it was fairly liberal, am willing to concede it may have changed!

Ive travelled to Dubai on Emirates for business and I can confirm that they pour alcohol down you. It doesn't matter where your final destination is. Alcohol is freely available for expats and visitors in hotels and bars. My secretary once booked me a dry hotel by mistake and the people I was meeting were laughing about it. Alcohol is a big part of the business and social environment there.

The place has a terrible human and women's rights record and I can't stand for those and more superficial reasons (ugly, dusty, too hot, etc) but there's a lot of nonsense being spouted on this thread about alcohol.

Also, for every person above saying this would never happen in the UK and thank God/the queen for the fact that we live in a civilised society.. I’d like to remind you of Bhavishya and Pinaki Patel.

They came to the UK with valid visas for a 10 day holiday. They had return tickets booked. When pulling these out to show the immigration officer he got suspicious because she also had her qualifications in the folder and suspected them of trying to immigrate. So they were held in a detention centre. They offered to return to India but were told they couldn’t until their case was processed. He had a heart attack and because it took 15 mins for them to respond, he died. Inmates at the centre had to go on hunger strike to allow the widow to be released.

Civilised my arse. What you mean is that it won’t happen to white people here.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/yarls-wood-hunger-strike-at-immigration-removal-centre-for-release-of-widow-10196889.html

Bauble I'm surprised you say Qatar was liberal in the early nineties as there was only one bar in Doha then which was in one of the hotels and unless you had the correct passport you weren't allowed in! We lived there at the time and Dubai, even then when most people hadn't heard of it, was the escape place for the weekend.

What Matey said.

You can drink alcohol, you can’t be drunk in the street.

Ironically I got into a bit of bother at in Dubai airport last October. I’d forgotten I had a candle in my hand luggage, it was bought as a gift and you can’t take them on the airplane for obviously reasons, oops!

Immediately I had images of jail and DM stories whilst the senior officer was called. I was alone with my daughter. I apologised and offered for them to throw it. They were so nice, with luck it was in the shop bag I bought it from which included the receipt. They examined it, a further X-ray was done. Checked neither of us had means to light it.

They warned me not to do it again, shook my hand, let me through with the candle and couldn’t have been nicer.

Desertmum by liberal I mean women could drive and we were able to purchase and consume alcohol from shops and at home, which was more liberal ( according to my parents) than Saudi Arabia of my childhood in the 70s and similar to that in Oman where we lived in the 70s and 80s. I have never had the fortune to visit Dubai when of drinking age as I haven't been there since I was six years old on a holiday. I was surmising it was strict on alcohol based on what pps had said about it being illegal. I do beg your pardon. Are you always this smug?

Bauble in Dubai you can buy alcohol from airport arrivals and certain shops, as well as loads of different bars and clubs all over the city.
In Doha there's a much smaller selection of bars and clubs and mostly in the city centre. Your passport is checked on entry. There is one place to buy alcohol for home consumption (not exactly cebtral) and You need to be a resident with a special licence.
Qatar also disallows the sale of all alcohol during the month of Ramadan which Dubai doesn't.
It's a bit more conservative in its expectation of dress too. Knees and shoulders are expected to be covered in malls and other public places.
I abided by this in Dubai too but plenty didn't.

Not smug at all. But do think you have the wrong country. During the nineties in Qatar alcohol could be bought from one place with a licence if you were had a resident visa, earned above a certain amount a month
and weren't a Muslim. You were allowed to go to 'the palace on the hill' ONE day a month and only on your approved day (eg, our day was a Tuesday). We had an allowance for the month. It was always a bet to see who could get closest to their allowance each month. There were no shops selling alcohol at that time.

There was the infamous 'hole in the wall' in a nearby Emirate tho - perhaps that is where you mean?

It turns out 'invalid visa' was actually expired passport. Then she got angry with the official who noticed. The woman is a doughnut 🤦🏻‍♀️

Bauble - pretty much anywhere is liberal compared to Saudi! Its still impossible to buy alcohol (and pork) in Saudi.
My usual Emirates flight from Dubai to Saudi is dry.

So it has nothing to do with her having an invalid visa, then getting into an argument with customs and then filming them on her phone when asked not to do so

You're a spoilsport.

I'm guessing Emirates give out wine on their planes for passengers who are flying on to more liberal countries like oman or Qatar where it is not an offence

No. Its given to anyone who wants it regardless of where they're going.

www.mediaoffice.ae/en/media-center/news/11/8/2018/statement-by-the-attorney-general-of-dubai.aspx

Statement from Dubai's media office. So she rocks up on an expired Swedish passport, they offer to let her into the country for 96 hours using her Iranian passport and she kicks off and starts filming them.

What did the stupid woman think was going to happen? I also don't believe her account of her treatment at all. She screwed up and then tried to paint herself as the victim.

Are you asking whether I have travelled as a non-white person?? I pretty much always travel as a non-white person. When deathltly ill I have a bit of a whity-greeny-olive pallor... but ptherwise really quite not white

Cheeky mare!!

turday, August 11, 2018
His Excellency Esam Issa Al Humaidan, Attorney General of Dubai, today confirmed that the Dubai Public Prosecution has completed investigations and closed the case involving a Swedish national who attempted to enter the UAE on an expired passport.

The incident started with the arrival of the accused with her daughter from London Gatwick Airport on board an Emirates flight. She attempted to enter the country using a Swedish passport, which had already expired on June 10, 2018. She was advised by the immigration officer that she could not enter the country with an expired passport. She then produced an Iranian passport, and was informed by the officer that she could enter the country by issuing a new temporary visa, which allowed a 96-hour stay, and had to change her departure flight according to the new visa.

Ms. Hollman refused angrily due to the additional payment fees the process would require, and proceeded to verbally insult the immigration officer and take photos of the officer via her phone.

A legal claim was issued against Ms. Holman with charges of profanity and photographing a government official at the border crossing, a restricted area. The woman and her child remained together in the airport security office for less than 24 hours while services were provided to them, taking into full account and consideration of her 4-year-old daughter. Her father received her immediately upon his arrival and they subsequently departed the country. The prosecution decided to drop the charges against Ellie Hollman and to deport her instead.

She’s a Botox doctor so would definitely have been over there for work.

She was asked re alcohol because she became 'belligerent"

Then she started to record airport security, which is illegal.