DUBAI: No jail for couple convicted of sex on the beach
Having endured public shame and courtroom prying, a British pair convicted of having sex outside marriage on a Dubai beach had their three-month jail sentence suspended today.
An appeals court in the United Arab Emirates upheld the guilty verdict but spared Vince Acors, 34, and Michelle Palmer, 36, imprisonment. The defendants paid $272 each for charges involving alcohol consumption in the incident that unfolded July 5 when they left a Champagne brunch and were arrested hours later on Jumeirah Beach.
The couple, who admitted kissing but denied having sex, were expected to be deported to their native Britain. After the court’s ruling, Palmer was quoted by reporters as saying: “It just proves our innocence after all the bad stuff that was written. That's it.”
Acors and Palmer were convicted in October and quickly became the grist of international headlines and a cautionary tale about Western permissiveness colliding with Islamic values. Dubai is the most liberal of the emirates, but recent pressure from Muslim conservatives has made police more vigilant in combating moral offenses.
The Persian Gulf’s center of glitz and hype, Dubai is speckled with man-made islands stroked by waves from passing yachts. Luxury is so prevalent, it's almost passe. The atmosphere is a bane to clerics. Alcohol is sold, and prostitution is rampant, if discreet.
Acors and Palmer, who was fired from her job with a book-publishing company following her arrest, were center stage in a drama perhaps larger and darker than their tryst. They fueled the blogosphere. They were vilified by some, sympathized with by others and criticized by many for slipping into an unflattering position in an Arab country.
Hassan Mattar, the couple’s lawyer, told reporters it all ended well: “This is a good result. This means the law in Dubai is just and shows the judge has a good mind and a good heart.”
-- Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo
Photo: Vince Acors. Credit: Reuters
nO WAY!!! Get in troubles for having sex at the beach.... come on!!! There are worse things in the world
Posted by: Online Pharmacy no Prescription | May 18, 2009 at 08:26 AM
what ? look pals ....this isnt a jungle, humans have brain we dont do sex puplicly like that
there lucky they were let out
if it was in saudi arabia or kuwait they would have hanged or somthing and atleast 10 years of jail if they were mercful on them
the rules in the middle east are governed by islamic teachings
OH they can have sex medical ...is just not like this ,,like a hotel..A ROOM,,,,somthing,,,
i bet the animals there were ashamed
so the least things you guys can do IS PACK YA FREAKEN FILTHY ASS OUT OUR COUNTRy ALONG with YOUR FILTHY CRAPY MANNERS......
dame ,,,you let a couple forien dogs and thes is what happens.....
they SHOULD HAVE BEEN SHOT DEATH,,LIKE DOGS THEY ARE.....
Posted by: faisal | March 05, 2009 at 01:17 PM
really? I can not beleave, why the couple can not have sex?
Posted by: medical | January 09, 2009 at 01:14 AM
really intersting.
we have to take care in the middle east.
Posted by: crusher | January 09, 2009 at 01:13 AM
damn u dubai , center of sex selling pan gulf area
Posted by: irfan | November 25, 2008 at 06:51 PM
TO Michael Mellgard:
About your question, u should go there and visit the city to comprehends the situation; and then surely they have not been there just for sex on the beach !
Posted by: Amjad | November 25, 2008 at 04:23 PM
....all along I thought that Sx on the Beach was a cocktail!
Posted by: Bob Jensen | November 25, 2008 at 10:39 AM
Dubai may be the center of international glitz and glamour but It is not nearly as friendly to Western tourists as it's public relations machine would depict. Check out the Nov. 06, 2006 issue of Gulf News, the UAE's English-language daily. You will find the story of a Pakistani man who was facing significant jail time because he was caught at the Dubai airport carrying Viagra; though he was married and the drug was pursuant to a valid prescription, possession of the "blue anti-impotence" drug is illegal in Dubai. Bottom line is, Westerners beware...
Posted by: Andrew Vincent Alder | November 25, 2008 at 10:28 AM
One would think that travel agencies would give advice on how to behave in public in Arab countries. Also, why anyone would want to go to that part of the world on vacation is beyond my comprehension. If you want to have sex on the beach then go to Sweden or Germany for that matter.
Posted by: Michael Mellgard | November 25, 2008 at 09:57 AM