Dubai drops indecency charge against Scottish man facing 3 months

Dubai has dropped a public indecency charge against Jamie Harron, a 27-year-old Scottish electrician who was sentenced to three months in prison for allegedly touching a man’s hip in a bar.

Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum intervened to exonerate Harron following Sunday’s court decision, according to Detained in Dubai, the non-profit group representing him. Harron’s passport was then returned. He is now free to leave the Middle East, the BBC reports.

The Scot was also accused of drinking alcohol and making a rude gesture towards the German businessman he was alleged to have touched indecently. He says he simply brushed past the man while in a bar and reached out to steady himself, The Independent reports.

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Harron, who is from Stirling, was taking a break from working in Afghanistan. He was on a stopover in Dubai when he was arrested in July over an incident he described as a “cultural misunderstanding”, Scotland's STV reported.

The German businessman later withdrew his complaint about Harron but the prosecution went ahead anyway, according to the Abu Dhabi-based newspaper The National.

It is illegal in Dubai to drink or be drunk in public, kiss, swear or make rude gestures. The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office recorded 1,350 female detentions in the Emirates in the past five years for a variety of crimes, The Express said in March, citing a freedom of information request.

“It’s a sport to have someone locked up for a few days” in Dubai, and some locals use the law “for vindication if they feel offended by someone”, Stirling, a lawyer and the founder of Detained in Dubai, said in comments reported by the Herald Scotland on Sunday.