British man arrested in UAE for wearing a Qatar shirt!!

[ZaphodBeeblerox]

Usually when people post "These Arabs so cray" stories of Brits on holiday getting in trouble for drinking in public, or having sex in public etc I have little sympathy. But this sounds ridiculous!

Shrug. Not exactly news is it.

As a woman I won't even change planes in any of those countries.

Their country, their law. I think it is stupid so I stay away.

Don'tcall I read the FCO website before I go to such places, as a matter of course.

It might not occur to you that wearing a football shirt would lead to an arrest, but the UAE isn't the same as the UK in laws, values, or liberal mindset!

DontCallMeCharlotte
it certainly wouldn't occur to me to check regarding other countries' football shirts

I wouldn’t feel safe wearing my teams football shirt outside of my city in England (unless it was an away game and even then, wary), let alone another country, let alone wear a football shirt of another country in a completely different country, let alone when said shirt is from country that has sanctions on the country I was currently holidaying in.

And I always read up on countries before I go as much as I can and always check the FCO website before booking. You’d be a fool not to when visiting such a strict country.

These two ruling families have an historical feud that goes back generations. Wearing that t-shirt was the biggest mistake a visitor could make. Although having no idea about it, that man was showing support for the old tribal enemy; it was the biggest provocation he could have shown to the Dubai ruling family. Done in innocence, it won't be forgiven or forgotten.

I'm a weegie, wearing the wrong footy shirt in the wrong time/place can and does get you assaulted even in the uk. Particularly "Derby" matches where tensions tend to run particularly high.

I find it hard to believe any true footy fan DOESN'T already know this!

Some people are real life goady twats who think it hilarious to go a footy match with them sitting in one teams area in the wrong shirt.

I also find it weird that people even want to go to such dictatorships with draconian laws etc but if you DO go at least use common sense and don't piss off the locals!

You may not agree with their laws, tough shit! You go there voluntarily following the local laws & customs is what sensible people do!

"Wouldn't occur to me given that the Quatari football team was in the country at the time that supporting their football team would be included?" Why on earth not? Sporting affiliations are passionately defended even outside of footy.

"And how many of us read the FCO website before we go anywhere?" I do. And given the many news stories of similar in recent years I'd CERTAINLY be doing so if traveling to countries where they're known to have strict laws and policing.

"I wouldn’t feel safe wearing my teams football shirt outside of my city in England (unless it was an away game and even then, wary), let alone another country" exactly! Because in an unknown city you won't know which areas are sympathetic or antagonistic to your team.

It's the UAE - what do people expect?

They are not tolerant people and have a completely different value system to the west. Their justice system is considered barbaric and absurd by a lot of westerners.

I have had my own experiences in the UAE which I don't care to go into (I wasn't arrested thank god), but it's safe to say that nothing would drag me back there.

Why I’m scared to visit but my new partner is Arab so I would only go with him as he has been a few times and knows what you can and can’t do wouldn’t go with my girlfriends tbh
Would love to go Dubai or Saudi

He should have checked the FCO website before he went, it's clearly stated on there not to wear anything showing support or sympathy for Qatar.

That doesn’t mean he’s committed a crime

Actually it does, it's against the law in the UAE so that's precisely what he has done. It's a ridiculous law in my opinion but that doesn't alter the fact that he has broken it and therefore committed a crime.

Graphite, you make excellent points on how wearing a wrong football top in the wrong city, anywhere in the world can get you 8n deep shit.

And how many of us read the FCO website before we go anywhere?

Absolutely every single time. That's what it is there for and if you choose to go somewhere like the UAE which is hardly known for tolerance and leniency then you read it unless you are a damn fool.

I expected as always that is more to the story, as in what thry left out was that he was politely asked to go back to the hotel and change his shirt, and the guy started to play up, threaten to wear nothing and he got arrested after that, but it wouldn't make for such a good read if the full story was shared.

Graphite, you make excellent points on how wearing a wrong football top in the wrong city, anywhere in the world can get you 8n deep shit.

Thanks I come from a Celtic supporting family but a few have married rangers supporters. I'm not really a footy fan myself but I'm well aware of the issues & tensions around certain teams. Old firm are known for it and the tensions aren't just due to footy rivalry but other socio-political factors I'm sure readers are aware of its complicated (but equally bloody stupid!) but it's true of others in uk too.

My ex supports a team infamous for having fans who are troublemakers, and with an infamous Derby rivalry with a club with a similar reputation!

He also has whatever the male equivalent of "resting bitch face" is so he's had people having a go cos they think he's giving them dirty looks, in addition until recently he was army so he's quite muscular and army hair regulations made him stand out at times, so he went/goes (as far as I know) to home matches when he can but is selective which away matches he goes to and never goes to derby matches as he learned early on he just gets grief!

He has friends that are supporters of the other team and they good naturedly rib each other about the other team being crap, especially of course if there's just been a match and the losing team has to take the shame, but these are people he's known since school and it's not serious. One guy did go too far once and ex & the others cut him out as a result but he was a dick in other ways too and I suspect it was a "last straw" thing.

But I've even family & friends in USA and even there - where they claim their big sporting events are "family friendly" - I've heard stories about people getting battered for going in the "wrong" bar where the bar's full of defeated fans, and the twit's wearing the winning rivals shirt! (and sometimes also gloating but not always)

Happens the world over.

UAE were being utter cunts (as usual). As it happened, the Qatari team won against the UAE team and the crowd threw shoes at them, huge insult in Arab culture. No supporters for the opposing Qatari team, naturally, since it’s kind of illegal. Terrible hosts.

Qatar went on to win the whole thing and the papers in the UAE couldn’t bring themselves to even print that; I think they said “Japan loses in upset or something”. I don’t know how they will deal when the World Cup takes place!

I accept my FCO comment was stupid because I do read their site when I'm travelling anywhere "controversial" (and when DH suggests "Somalia is hot at this time of year). Although it doesn't specify about "wearing" anything.

Also, I've been going to football regularly since the 80s and I am well aware of local and international rivalries (DH has a season ticket to a club which is one half of one of the most notorious rivalries in English football). And the worst trouble I've seen was at an England v Holland match back in 1988.

But I stick by my comment that if a country like the UAE is hosting a tournament, then I would not expect not to be able to support one of the finalists especially when that country is hosting the next World Cup! Even if he read the FCO page, would he consider a football shirt to be a form of "communication"? I'm pretty worldly wise and I might easily have made the same mistake because it would beyond my comprehension that a country would ever actually mean that.

And the UAE/Dubai sell themselves as a wonderful tourist destination and the poor bloke has fallen for it. In going to the UAE in the first place police station afterwards, he has shown utter stupidity though, but God love him for coming from a country where that would be a reasonable thing to do and expecting everywhere to be the same.

Who goes to a totalitarian country where dissent and free speech are utterly crushed

Our politicians and arms exporters, that's who.

These two ruling families have an historical feud that goes back generations. Wearing that t-shirt was the biggest mistake a visitor could make.

I doubt that. Having gay sex in public whilst swigging a bottle of whisky and singing the Israeli national anthem would be a bigger mistake.

Didn't take much effort to find the real story:

www.thenational.ae/uae/british-football-fan-arrested-for-misleading-uae-police-1.822499

Thanks for the @ChipButtyNotABap - I stand corrected and go back to my earlier stance of all people complaining about treatment in the Middle East are idiots and there's always more to the story.
(Although I will note this was only published today and I'd put up my thread yesterday when it was impossible to find any more details on the "real story").

That's just even weirder.

Man goes to totalitarian state where crimes are punished harshly and deliberately goes out of his way to waste police time by filing a false report?

🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

ChipButtyNotABap

"Well they would say that wouldn't they?"

"Well they would say that wouldn't they?"

Yeah.

I'm thinking torture or some sort of 'persuasion' was involved....

Just to add, I had friends at that game and asked them this morning and there were loads of Qatar flags and supporters there, as is also shown in the photos.

I give it about a day before Detained in Dubai (a very shady organisation) pops up to try and make some money out of this. They have form for that 😆

The FCO website does mention not showing support for Qatar:

"The UAE authorities announced on 7 June 2017 that showing sympathy for Qatar on social media or by any other means of communication is an offence. Offenders could be imprisoned and subject to a substantial fine."

Fairly obvious really. I suspect the problem is that he was wearing the t-shirt on the way to/from the game and if he posted it on social media then they'd be even more irritated with him even without his complaint.