Jamie Harron photographed with his thumbs up at Glasgow Airport after being released from Dubai
The British man who was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment in Dubai for touching another man’s hip has tonight landed back in the UK after the charges against him were dropped.
Jamie Harron, 27, from Stirling, was sentenced in his absence for public indecency in the Middle Eastern country yesterday.
But he was able to leave the country after having his passport returned – and said he is flying home tomorrow.
He was photographed with his thumbs up at Glasgow Airport and was pictured embracing his delighted mother Patricia.
In a statement released through campaign group Detained in Dubai, he said: ‘No one should go through what I went through.
‘Yesterday, I faced months in a Dubai prison cell. Today, I was phoned to say I could collect my passport.
‘The past few months have been up and down and full of worry for everyone. I am arranging flights back home now and can’t wait to see my family.
‘It’s going to take me a while to recover. It is hard for my friends to imagine what was going through my head when I was told I would be jailed for months.
‘I am struggling to come to terms with being released but will be having dinner with my friends tonight before I leave for good.’
He added that he is delighted to be coming home and wanted to thank Dubai’s ruler.
He also said his parents are ‘ecstatic’ that he is returning after his experience with the ‘absolute shambles’ of Dubai’s justice system.
His mother, Patricia, said she was ‘absolutely delighted’ at the news.
Harron told her: ‘Just stop crying mum, don’t be upset anymore. Don’t cry anymore.’
He said he put his hand on businessman Emad Tabaza’s hip to avoid spilling a drink in a crowded bar.
His German accuser dropped the complaint, but local prosecutors decided to proceed with the case.
Jamie Harron, 27, from Stirling, was sentenced for public indecency in the Middle Eastern country yesterday
Businessman Emad Tabaza (left) had left Briton Jamie Harron in jail (right) over claims of being indecently touched
The electrician had been working in Afghanistan and was on a two-day stopover in the United Arab Emirates when he was arrested in July.
The vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, has exonerated Harron, according to the group Detained in Dubai.
Radha Stirling, who works for Detained in Dubai, said: ‘The cases against him have been dismissed, and the sentence imposed by the court yesterday has been nullified.
‘We wish to express our deepest gratitude to Sheikh Mohammed for his personal intervention in this case, and for exonerating Jamie at long last.
‘It has now been established that the allegations against Jamie were entirely unwarranted, defamatory, and meritless; to such an extent that the ruler of the country found it necessary to step in and correct the wrongful action of the public prosecutor and to quash the judgment of the court.’
She added: ‘This was a courageous and honourable decision on the part of Sheikh Mohammed.
‘While it highlights the urgent need for judicial reform in the country, it is also a hopeful sign that the UAE’s leadership possesses the will and vision to pursue such reforms in the future.’
She said Harron is now considering a civil suit against the businessman and his staff who also accused him of drinking alcohol and making a rude gesture.
When he was sentenced yesterday, he was given two weeks to appeal the decision.
He was said to be ‘angry, disappointed, and dreads what may happen next’.
He was initially jailed for five days and then released on bail with his passport confiscated.
The incident occurred at the raucous Rock Bottom bar, popular among Dubai’s many wealthy and often tipsy foreign residents and tourists.
Stirling said at the time: ‘He has already suffered tremendously as a result of these allegations, and now faces the likelihood of incarceration.
Harron (pictured left) is now free to leave the country after having his passport returned after an intervention by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum (pictured right)
‘He feels betrayed and exploited by the system, which did not investigate the reports of key witnesses in his defence and led him to believe that the case would be dropped.’
She added: ‘His family was unable to visit him during this critical time because they faced a very real risk of imprisonment themselves under the UAE’s cyber crime laws which forbid criticism of the government.’
Harron had already been sentenced in absentia to 30 days in prison for failing to appear at a court hearing for making a rude gesture and drinking alcohol during the same July incident.
Stirling said she believed a decree from Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, had resolved the case.
In Dubai, as in the other seven sheikhdoms that make up the United Arab Emirates, absolute power rests with the hereditary ruler.
‘It was just a public-relations nightmare for the country,’ Stirling said.
She said of Harron: ‘He was understandably nervous; as similar calls from the police in other cases were merely tactics to lure individuals into police custody.
Who is the ruler of Dubai?
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and Prince Andrew, Duke of York, at Ladies Day at Ascot Racecourse in 2009
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is the vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates as well as the ruler of the Emirate of Dubai.
The 68-year-old succeeded his brother as leader of the tiny Middle Eastern city in 2006 and has been credited with turning it into a global business and tourism destination.
He oversaw the building of the Burj Al Arab hotel and the Palm Islands in Dubai alongside many other projects.
As well as being a much-hailed leader, he is also a published poet and a keen equestrian.
His family owns the world-famous Godolphin stable, of which he is the driving force.
The enormously successful operation has won 4,000 races since it was created in 1992 and has been named British Champion Owner twelve times – in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017.
It has stables in Newmarket, Sydney and Melbourne and has its headquarters in Dubai.
The sheikh has himself has also won victories on horseback, including a double in the Longines FEI World Endurance Championships at Euston Hall in Thetford five years ago.
‘But when Jamie arrived at the police station, his passport was returned, and he was told that he was free to go.
‘The charges were dropped, the sentence annulled, and he faces no order for deportation. This came by direct order from Sheikh Mohammed.’
Stirling said that ideally such intervention would not have been necessary, but was grateful that the Dubai Ruler took the initiative.
She added: ‘Of course, a fully functional legal system would not require outside intervention, and a case like Jamie’s would never proceed in the first place.
‘But we are enormously grateful to Sheikh Mohammed for stepping in and vindicating Jamie after months of hardship.’
Harron was accused by another man of sexual assault for touching his buttocks during a dispute at the bar in July.
One of Harron’s friends, British national James Allen, 37, who lives in Dubai, told prosecutors that the Scotsman bumped into the accuser’s arm accidentally, sparking the argument, according to court documents.
He said Harron apologized to the accuser and ‘placed his hand on the side of his buttocks as a way of apologizing,’ according to court papers.
Harron’s accuser told authorities that the Scotsman had come from behind and hit him on the buttocks while drunk, according to court documents.
Mr Harron with his parents Graham and Patricia, who were said to be distraught about their son’s legal case
The accuser said Harron ‘laughed’ when he asked why he did it and later gave him the finger before police arrived.
Harron also faced charges of drinking alcohol without a permit and over allegedly giving the accuser the finger during the argument. He did not attend his court hearing.
Mr Tabaza, the managing director of global technology firm Neuman & Esser, is said to have received death threats following the incident.
A spokesman for Neuman & Esser confirmed Mr Tabaza dropped the complaint.
In a statement issued on behalf of the businessman, he said: ‘With a certain distance from the incident and the punishment to be expected for the suspect, our employee decided to withdraw the complaint despite the harassment having been confirmed by several witnesses.
‘However, according to the typical laws for the country, this does not automatically result in the termination of the proceedings as, for example, very likely in England or Germany.’
Accused Brit also had his bike taken
Yesterday it was revealed that Harron had his garage broken into at his home in Scotland.
Writing on Facebook, Jordan Harron said: ‘So to add to Jamie’s ordeal. His garage has now been broken into with a saw, things stolen one of which his good bike! Police been phoned but can everyone please share!!
‘So to add to Jamie’s ordeal. His garage has now been broken into with a saw, things stolen one of which his good bike!
‘Police been phoned but can everyone please share!! Find out who this low life scum is !!’
Dubai, home of the long-haul airline Emirates, long has sought to make itself a tourism hub. It has the world’s tallest building – the Burj Khalifa – as well as man-made islands, an indoor ski slope and miles of air-conditioned walkways in its high-end malls. It also will host the 2020 World Expo, a world’s fair held every five years.
Part of Dubai’s year-round tourism draw is also its alcohol sales, as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iran ban the purchase of liquor and beer. Even neighboring Sharjah, another of the UAE’s sheikhdoms, bans it.
However, alcohol possession for foreigners is technically illegal without a government-issued license obtainable only after gaining their employer’s permission, though liquor and beer are widely available in bars.
Foreigners also have faced charges in the past for having sex outside of marriage. Such laws are common in other Mideast nations, based in part on Islamic legal codes.
Recent incidents involving British nationals apparently forced UK Ambassador to the UAE Philip Parham to write a letter warning citizens to exercise more caution and understand local laws in the sheikhdoms. Over 100,000 British citizens live in the UAE, while another 1.5 million visit each year, he said.
‘Local laws and customs are very different to those in the UK and that there may be serious penalties for doing something which may not be illegal in the UK,’ Parham warned.