Truth About Dubai?

Less than a week ago, my brother was detained and arrested during a visit to Dubai. He is still in jail with absolutely NO charges nor a release date... Needless to say this is absolutely fucking bullshit. It hasn't realy hit home to me until now, now that I've seen the amount of support my brother is getting from friends and just the general public around the world.

He was initially pulled aside for having over the counter sleeping pills in his possession (Melatonin, used to help against jet lag). He was then subject to a urine test and they are now testing a speck of dirt found in the bottom of his backpack for traces of hash.

Obviously my parents, his closest friends and gf are doing all we can, communicating with the consulates, local authorities, etc. Please help by signing this petition: http://thetruthaboutdubai.com/?page_id=3. You can also help by forwarding this thread/links to anyone you know, other forums that you may frequent, as well as myspace/fb/blogs/etc.

More info:

• http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8722691373 - Facebook group
• http://pixthulu.livejournal.com/23108.html - Blog belonging to Scott (close friend and business partner currently located in Dubai)
• http://users.livejournal.com/_yungfuktoi_/ - Blog belonging to Mildred, his gf...

N.B. Although he isn't part of RA or the Adelaide scene (he now lives in London), a fair bunch of you know him through other means either under his real name Tuong or his more common name of Diz...

This post has been edited by Phorte: Feb 4 2008, 02:47 AM

1905 signatures already....nice work...hope he makes it out of their safely

shit man that's terrible. I hope he has freedom again soon

my sympthoes too you,

but how is this different to vietnam, or indonesia or even australia.? people get arrested for sus looking pills. polive have the right to investigate. however being help without charge or release date is what i feel is wrong.


also, in your partition, "wish to appeal to you ... to forgive this innocent oversight and grant him swift deportation rather than a prison sentence."

innocent oversight makes it sound like he did something illegal (without knowing). i think this is misworded as melatonin is a legal over the counter there (please correct me if im wrong), however, from wiki, over-the-counter sales remain illegal in many other countries.

youre right, melatonin is legal over in dubai

but yea i didnt write up that petition and actually have no idea who did. but i agree with what you've noted regarding the wording.

and the whole point is about being held without charge or release date..................

fuck i know him from back in the day .. top geezer!

sign the contract ppl's ... fuck not good Linh, sorry to hear

Grooverider is in lock up there 2 for a small amount of weed and some porno mags.. pretty fucked up laws imho

I was pretty shocked when I heard this...

Hopefully the test results come back soon and Diz can get out.

reading a few news reports, the urine test came back negative

This is just wrong,but hard to defend when they are making up new laws as they go along!

This has hit home as I came through Dubai not long ago with over the counter sleeping pills &
had no idea that it could land me in jail,it has opened up my eyes & I will be telling people about this case.

I wish Diz his family & friends all the best & I know that he is lucky to have such good people in his corner & I think that now they are taking upon them to help others in the same situation is truly a wonderful thing to do.

Lets hope that they all get out soon,safe & well.

Signed. I hope everything is OK, Linh! But if the tablets are legal and there's nothing they find in his bag, hopefully he'll be out soon.

DivineMx: thanks a lot for the words of support. its so scary to hear of how often this is actually happening and from what i hear there are a significant number of innocent people in jail under very similar circumstances...

LightningChyld: hope so too.. btw i saw you driving to work this morning on hampstead rd

Did you Linh? Were you in a car or on the side of the road?

I checked out the facebook site too, good to see it getting support.

Fuck flying through there.
Boycott the place.

Nah was travelling the other way... You wouldnt've spotted me unless you were looking out for me.

Facebook group is getting good response.

Have put this up on a lot of other forums I frequent (mainly automotive ones) but out of all the forums, the one getting the most bullshit, childish responses is OCAU (Overclocker's Australia) - a computing website haha...

Fuck Dubai and it's fucked up laws! Pity we can't do a trade for some crows players.

Incidentally, signed, but would a petition have any influence on their actions?

no idea... im not even too sure who setup the petition... but at the end of the day, even if it helps in the slightest then i guess its worthwhile.

Think I saw a big blowup photo of the poor bloke on Indepedent paper this morning.

Know you guys would've been aware, but it never hurts to remind people when travelling those kind of countires which risks they can pose. Fuck dodgy countries with dodgy cops needing thier hand greased.

This post has been edited by Naked: Feb 4 2008, 04:27 PM

makes me angry the way the world is heading! aint just dubai, soon everybodys freedom will go up the shitter!

until this I had only heard good things about Dubai. I think your brother has been very unlucky and its a shit situation to be in, I hope he's ok

yeah Diz is a great guy.. if i was religious i'd pray for him, but as it is i'll just send good vibes his way..
keep us updated..

It was for the best that it was deleted,as I'm sure that you don't need the extra
anger from people with their heads up their arses or stuck in the sand,refusing to believe
that these things happen,you need to stay up not be brought down by these wankers!

Have you had any up dates????

Stay strong dude.

no... lol

DivineMx, no real updates yet... they're seeing another lawyer today and consulate shouldve met up with my bro monday 9am (whcih was sometime last night adelaide time). yet to get an update...

This post has been edited by Phorte: Feb 5 2008, 01:53 PM

dodgy arsed country

hell, only a few years ago, countries like UAE still convicted female rape victims of 'adultery'



sounds like grooverider's still locked up there too...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/arti...70&ito=1490

Briton jailed for four years in Dubai after customs find cannabis weighing less than a grain of sugar under his shoe

A father-of-three who was found with a microscopic speck of cannabis stuck to the bottom of one of his shoes has been sentenced to four years in a Dubai prison.

Keith Brown, a council youth development officer, was travelling through the United Arab Emirates on his way back to England when he was stopped as he walked through Dubai's main airport.

A search by customs officials uncovered a speck of cannabis weighing just 0.003g - so small it would be invisible to the naked eye and weighing less than a grain of sugar - on the tread of one of his shoes.

Dubai International Airport is a major hub for the Middle East and thousands of Britons pass through it every year to holiday in the glamorous beach and shopping haven.

But many of those tourists and business travellers are likely to be unaware of the strict zero-tolerance drugs policy in the UAE.

One man has even been jailed for possession of three poppy seeds left over from a bread roll he ate at Heathrow Airport. Painkiller codeine is also banned.

If suspicious of a traveller, customs officials can use high-tech equipment to uncover even the slightest trace of drugs.

Mr Brown was detained and arrested in September last year and has been held in a cell with three other men in the city prison ever since.

This week the youth worker, who has two young children and a partner at home in Smethwick, West Midlands, was sentenced to four years in prison.

A 25-year-old Briton who was found with a similar speck in one pocket as he arrived on holiday has been awaiting sentence since November.

Meanwhile a Big Brother TV executive has so far been held without charge for five days after being arrested for possessing the health supplement melatonin.

The authorities claim to have discovered 0.01g of hashish in his luggage.

Last night Mr Brown's brother Lee said his case "defied belief".

"For that sort of amount common sense should prevail, from where it was found it was obviously something that had been crushed on the floor - it could have come from anywhere."

Rastafarian Mr Brown had been returning from a short trip to Ethiopia, where one of his children lives and where he owns property.

He was travelling with his partner Imani, who was also stopped and detained for more than a week.

Normally he flew direct to and from the UK, but decided to stop off in Dubai.

"He was incensed when he called me," said driving instructor Lee, 57. "It would be funny if the circumstances weren't so unpleasant.

"Bugs are crawling out of his mattress when he's sleeping. His family are frantic with worry and can't call him."

Last night campaign group Fair Trials International advised visitors to Dubai and Abu Dhabi to "take extreme caution".

Chief Executive Catherine Wolthuizen said: "We have seen a steep increase in such cases over the last 18 months.

"Customs authorities are using highly sensitive new equipment to conduct extremely thorough searches on travellers and if they find any amount - no matter how minute - it will be enough to attract a mandatory four-year prison sentence."

Mrs Wolthuizen added: "We even have reports of the imprisonment of a Swiss man for 'possession' of three poppy seeds on his clothing after he ate a bread roll at Heathrow.

"What many travellers may not realise is that they can be deemed to be in possession of such banned substances if they can be detected in their urine or bloodstream, or even in tiny, trace amounts on their person."

Only two months after Mr Brown was stopped economics graduate Robert Dalton was detained in almost identical circumstances.

Mr Dalton, from Gravesend, on Kent was with two friends when he was stopped and asked to empty his pockets.

Officials found 0.03g of cannabis in a small amount of fluff. He is currently on trial and if convicted, is likely receive a four-year prison sentence.
Cat Le-Huy

Held: A campaign is underway to secure the release of Cat Le-Huy from a Dubai jail

Last night his brother Peter, 26, told how it took 24 hours to find out why he had been stopped.

"As we understand, the amount of cannabis was barely visible to the human eye and was at the bottom of the pocket of an old pair of jeans.

"He's not a drug user, but he goes clubbing and the speck was so small."



Last week Cat Le-Huy, a London-based German national, was arrested on arrival at the airport.

Mr Le-Huy, 31, head of technology with Big Brother production company Endemol, was arrested on suspicion of possessing illegal drugs after customs officers found melatonin, a health supplement used for jet lag available over the counter both in Dubai and in the US.

Authorities also claim they discovered fragments in one of his bags which they believe to be hashish. Fair Trials International said the amount was 0.01g.