KISS AND TELL: WOMAN LOCKED UP IN “MODERATE” DUBAI FOR A PECK ON THE CHEEK
Briton jailed for kiss in Dubai condemns Emirate’s ‘hypocrisy’
The British estate agent jailed for “a peck on the cheek” in Dubai has condemned the “hypocrisy” of the Emirate’s strict decency laws as she told how she was locked up with murderers and prostitutes in an isolated desert prison.
Charlotte Adams, 26, who was deported on Friday after spending 23-days behind bars for “indecency”, spoke of her horror when a local woman claimed she had publicly kissed and touched Ayman Najafi, a British friend, in a restaurant last November.
Miss Adams, from Mersea Island, Essex, who regularly visited Dubai on business, admitted “flirting” with Mr Najafi but said she had done nothing more than give him “a peck on the cheek”.
In her first interview since her release, she said: “It is such a relief. I’ve thought of nothing else for the last few months.
“I love (Dubai) and it makes me sad that I’ll never come back, although I think I’d struggle to ever feel free here again.
“The laws need to evolve to match the culture here. At the moment, it’s all just hypocrisy.”
She lambasted Vince Acors and Michelle Palmer, the British couple jailed in 2008 for having sex on the beach in Dubai, as “stupid” and said she never intended to offend Muslim customs.
“I thought they were stupid to behave like that in a Muslim city. Everyone was affected by what it meant. You’d have been stupid to ignore it,” she said.
But she denies that her conduct with Mr Najafi compared to that of Miss Palmer and Mr Acors. “I may have pecked him on the cheek at one point but we weren’t drunk and I would never have snogged someone in the middle of a crowded restaurant – especially in Dubai,” she told The Mail on Sunday.
Miss Adams was jailed for 23 days for indecency and fined 1000 dirhams (£200) for drinking in April after dropping her attempts to appeal against the ruling when she ran out of funds.
She was sent to the Al Awir Prison – a sprawling desert complex with watch towers and high walls topped with barbed wire. Among her fellow inmates was a Russian woman who had chopped up her boyfriend and his lover.
The 26-year-old shared a 23ft by 13ft cell with five others – including a pregnant prostitute who allegedly remained locked up for 24-hours after her waters broke.
“I don’t think I slept at all that first night,” she said. “The first three days were the hardest. When the doors were locked the first time it was awful. I just lay in the dark and tried not to cry.”
Meals were “horrendous” and Miss Adams said she believes the food was laced with sedatives. “You get listless quickly and my mind felt empty,” she said.
The estate agent walked free at 7am on Friday and was taken straight to the airport. She is now banned from re-entering Dubai. “Taking off in the plane was amazing, even though I know I won’t be back,” she said.
Now back in her family home in Mersea Island, Essex, Miss Adams remains defiant. “This hasn’t destroyed me, it hasn’t changed me. I can wake up tomorrow and feel normal. I don’t feel scarred by it and I’m not ashamed of my behaviour,” she said.
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