No dogging in Dubai

Last week, a woman and her husband were arrested for having sex on a beach in Dubai; this news made it to the front pages of at least one major British newspaper. The woman was (until she got the sack) employed by a publishing company in the emirate; she is now, allegedly, facing a six-year sentence.

I am sure some are thinking this is typical for a backward Muslim country, but actually, I think having sex in public would offend people in most countries, including many of those where western tourists go to get drunk and, well, whatever else. Everyone knows that if you go and live in a Muslim country, and one which does not even pretend to be a democracy, you have to be careful. People get paid handsomely for working there (although they may have to pay handsomely to live there) and while it’s not Saudi Arabia – they do let people, non-Muslims at least, drink alcohol – there are limits.

I do think six years is excessive, but then, this is the country where people have been thrown in jail for having a few poppy seeds on their clothes or the remains of a joint they trod on back home still stuck to the sole of their shoe when they get to the Emirates. In the UK, public sex is known as dogging, and there are those who gather to watch people do it in such places as parks. I am sure the locals wish these people would clear off; how about giving them a one-way ticket to Dubai?