Horror Story 2: Escape from Dubai

The alleged finger-giver.

Some people may remember the story I talked about from last May in which a visiting surgeon from England upset an Emirati driver and was accused of giving him the middle finger. (For my version of the story, click here.) Well it seems he was given his passport back and told he could go back to his job in England as long as he promised to come back for the trial for allegedly giving the middle finger to another diver. If you read the original article in the Independent, it's pretty doubtful that he even did it.

Well, the court date has come and the good doctor has, (surprise, surprise) decided that it is not in his best interest for him to come back to face trial for this, knowing that there is no way that the court will believe his word over the word of an Emirati. You can read the article in the National for full details. (Thanks to Neil for pointing out the article in his blog.) He seems like a good man that was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I feel that the UAE does itself a great disservice when they allow their citizens to make (likely) false accusations over trivial matters. Not only have they lost a doctor who was considering a post here, they have done a lot of harm to the reputation of the UAE as a desirable place to travel or do business.