A 55-year-old British mother sentenced to prison in Dubai after calling her ex-husband a fool

A British mother risks being jailed in Dubai for posting a derogatory message on Facebook, which she published two years ago, about her ex-husband's new wife.

Laleh Sharavesh was arrested with her 14-year-old daughter, Paris, when she arrived in the Arab kingdom for her ex's funeral last month.

She discovered that her ex-husband's second wife had complained about the 2016 social media publications and that Laleh was being held under Dubai's strict cybercrime laws.

While her 14-year-old daughter was allowed to return home to Britain, Laleh, 55, was banned from leaving the country as her pbadport was confiscated.

The lawyers told the single mother that she was risking up to two years in prison and fined £ 50,000 when she will appear in court later this week.

Laleh told Mail Online: "I'm terrified. I can not sleep or eat. I've dropped two sizes of clothes because of the stress.

"And my daughter is crying to sleep every night. We are so close, especially since his father left us and we only got between us. It breaks my heart to be separated from her.

Calvary began on March 14 when Laleh and her daughter traveled to Dubai to attend the funeral of her ex-husband, Pedro.

He died of a heart attack on March 3, at the age of 51. Laleh and her daughter from Richmond upon Thames, Surrey, wanted to pay tribute to their loved ones.

Two years ago, after the Portuguese banker left her after 18 years of marriage with a younger woman, she was unleashed on her Facebook page when she saw a picture of her new wife on the day of their marriage. wedding.

Laleh said she wrote two comments in Farsi, in which she described Samah al Hammadi, a 42-year-old Tunisian, as a "horse" and described her as "ex-idiot".

As she posted the Facebook post about her stay in the UK, she has did not think about comments anymore.

She was unaware that al Hammadi had complained to the Dubai authorities, where social media posts could be used as part of a lawsuit.

Laleh said: "I did not know that he would remarry and so soon after breaking up our own marriage.

& # 39; I have reacted badly. I criticized and wrote two unpleasant comments about his new wife on his Facebook page.

I know I should not have. I should have behaved better, but I felt angry, betrayed and hurt. After 18 years of marriage, so little time apart, he gets married so fast. He did not even have enough respect for me in advance.

As soon as Laleh and his daughter landed in Dubai on March 10, with the intention of staying five days, they were arrested at the airport.

The immigration authorities had an outstanding arrest warrant as a result of the complaint filed in 2017 regarding the publication on Facebook.

The two incriminated posts were: "I hope you go underground, silly. Damn you. You left me for this horse & # 39; and & # 39; You married a horse, fool & # 39 ;.

The terrified couple spent 12 hours in a police station and received no food or water.

Laleh said that she had been offered to sign in Arabic and that the Facebook article translation had nothing to do with what she had written.

The word "bitch" had been substituted for the word "horse".

Laleh was told that she could not leave Dubai while she was waiting for a hearing in court.

Her daughter was allowed to fly home and her mother desperately misses her while she stays with friends.

Laleh lived in Dubai for eight months with her husband after landing a job at HSBC Bank.

She returned home with their daughter, hoping her husband would return after completing her professional obligations.

But she later discovered that he had started a relationship with another woman and had filed for divorce after 18 years.

Laleh said that she did not know that her husband was planning to get married so soon after their separation.

Her husband and new wife Samah Al Hammadi lived in Dubai when Facebook posts were published in October 2016.

Laleh said that she had lost her job in a homeless shelter because of her absence and that she was now at risk of losing her home because she had accumulated £ 5,000 in debts while she was in a state of emergency. she was forced to stay in Dubai.

She said, "I've lost everything because of that.

"I do not have more money after paying to stay in a hotel here for more than a month. I have lost my job and I can not pay the rent of the apartment in which I live in Paris, because of this we are about to lose the apartment.

"I even have a debt to my family for more than £ 5,000. My life is in shambles, and it's even before the huge fines and the jail I'm facing. All of this is less important than being separated from my daughter and that's all I want now, just to be back with her. "

Laleh's sister, Laden, said the family had enlisted the help of the British Embbady, ​​but had been informed that she could not intervene.

She said, "All they have done, is recommend a costly list of lawyers. When Laleh told them that she could not afford to stay in a cheap hotel while she was waiting and was at risk of becoming homeless in Dubai, the FCO staff just told her that she was in trouble. she should "find someone to borrow money from".

Radha Stirling, CEO of the human rights organization Detained In Dubai, officially represents Laleh.

She said, "I talked to Laleh, his mother, his sisters and his daughter Paris. Their experience is heartbreaking.

"Not only did Paris lose her father, but by visiting her to say her last goodbye, she found herself in a scary police station in the Middle East and is now without her mother.

"Everyone in the family had tears in their eyes and it was very moving to talk to everyone. They are all extremely damaged by what has happened and I hope that the recovery process will be long and psychological for them.

"Paris is writing a letter to Sheikh Mohammed, leader of Dubai and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, calling for his mother to be released. I also call on Sheikh Mohammed to make sure that Laleh is quickly reunited with her daughter in London and to review the content and enforcement of cybercrime laws of the United Arab Emirates. I am also calling on Laleh MP Zac Goldsmith and Jeremy Hunt to begin diplomatic talks with the United Arab Emirates to ensure Laleh's return safely.

"It's just unreasonable that a country that wants to attract the arrests of Western tourists and blames a woman for posting on Facebook, several years ago, a publication on Facebook published outside the jurisdiction." UAE.

"The post would never be subject to criminal prosecution in England and if the UAE had the intention of detaining tourists for publications made from England, they would thus be barred to foreigners. "

Sterling said the UAE has draconian cybercrime laws that can be enforced at any time.

"The UAE is the place most likely to arrest British nationals to be arrested abroad and the cybercrime laws have potentially made criminals almost all visitors.

"Laws are applied arbitrarily, which leads to even greater confusion about what is a crime or not.

"I have warned the British Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office that their advice to tourists is inadequate.

"When the United Arab Emirates pbaded laws on cybercrime, they criminalized almost all visitors.

"Dubai visitors are rightly unaware that they could be jailed for a publication on Facebook or Twitter published outside the jurisdiction of the United Arab Emirates several years ago.

United Arab Emirates cybercrime laws apply extraterritorially and retroactively. The laws on cybercrime prohibit the sharing of charities online such as Amnesty International, to raise funds, to share photos taken in public, for example with a vehicle or other people.

"The laws also prohibit anything that is" defamatory "against the United Arab Emirates, which may even include the reporting of a press article and further prohibit the use of a VPN. "