Dubai drops charges against Brit accused of touching man in bar
The British man arrested in Dubai for touching a man’s hip in a bar has had the charges against him dropped and his passport returned.
Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has made a special order for cases against 27-year-old Jamie Harron to be dismissed, according to campaign group Detained in Dubai (DiD).
Harron, from Stirling in Scotland, had been detained in Dubai since July after having his passport confiscated.
The electrician had been on his way to Afghanistan to start a new job when he took a two-day stopover in Dubai.
A German businessman claimed Mr Harron had been ‘very drunk’ and repeatedly touched him in the Rock Bottom Bar.
Harron was arrested and imprisoned for five days before being allowed out while he waited for the case to go to court. During that time his passport was confiscated.
His accuser dropped the complaint against him when he realised the severity of his treatment, but the authorities said the case would still go ahead.
On Sunday, he appeared in court and was sentenced to three months in jail. The maximum sentence is three years.
The following day, after intervention by Sheikh Mohammed, Harron’s passport was returned.
Earlier this month, the Daily Record carried an interview with Harron who said he was now in debt after spending £32,000 in expenses and legal fees and said his treatment had been ‘unbearable’.
He maintains he had touched the businessman by mistake and put his hand on his hip in the crowded bar to stop his drink being spilled.
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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