Only a peck on the cheek?: A kiss landed British couple in court, Dubai

Only a peck on the cheek?: A kiss landed British couple in court, Dubai

March 19, 2010

Dubai: A British woman facing jail for kissing a man in public in Dubai insisted yesterday that she ’only kissed him on the cheek’.

Charlotte Adams, 25, and Ayman Najafi, a British marketing executive, have both been convicted of indecency and illegal drinking.

During an appeal hearing in Dubai yesterday, the pair admitted they were drinking but denied passionately kissing and touching each other in public.

Their lawyer, Khalaf al Hasani, told the judge that they shared a peck on the cheek, which ’is a normal greeting in their culture and not a crime’.

Miss Adams and Mr Najafi were arrested at a busy burger restaurant after a 38-year-old local woman claimed she spotted them kissing on the lips and stroking each others backs.

At a court hearing last week, both were sentenced to a month in jail and told they would then be deported upon release.

They were also fined £180 for drinking alcohol.

But the prison sentence was put on hold pending yesterday’s appeal. The pair are expected in court again on April 4 for a verdict on their appeal.

Mr Najafi, 24, of Palmers Green, north London, has been working in Dubai, which is part of the United Arab Emirates, for the past 18 months for marketing firm Hay Group.

Miss Adams, who is also from north London, is believed to have travelled to the Muslim state for a holiday.

The case once again highlights the problems that can face the thousands of British tourists who take sunshine breaks in Dubai each year.

Unmarried men and women from the West are finding that kissing and cuddling is prohibited, particularly in public, and carries stringent penalties.

Miss Adams and Mr Najafi were having dinner with six friends in November at the Jumeirah Beach Residence, a stretch of beachside cafes, when they were arrested.

Yesterday, lawyer Mr al Hasani told Dubai’s Court of Appeal that the prosecution’s main witness was not sure of what she had seen and had changed her story.

’The story came to light after an Emirati woman, who was with her children having a meal in the restaurant, saw the pair,’ he said.

’She claimed she saw the two kissing each other in public and she called the police who came and arrested them.

But later on she told the public prosecutors that it was actually one of her children who saw my clients kissing and not her. She is not sure about the incident.

’They both kissed each other on cheek and that is a normal greeting in their culture, not a crime.’

During yesterday’s five-minute hearing, Miss Adams told the judge: ’I only kissed him on the cheek. I was drinking.’

Mr Najafi also admitted he had been drinking. He said he had kissed Miss Adams on the cheek, adding: ’I am innocent.’

The pair, who were bailed yesterday, have a second right of appeal if the first fails.

Mr al Hasani said the six friends could be called to corroborate their stories if the judge found against them.

At the earlier hearing, in Dubai’s Misdemeanours Court last week, a judge dismissed Mr Najafi’s claim that he only kissed Miss Adams on the cheek.

But Mr Najafi’s mother Maida said her son did not like public displays of affection.

Speaking from the family’s £425,000 home, she said: ’He knows the rules over there. He would never do that.

’He wouldn’t even do it over here. He said, "I haven’t done anything wrong Mum. Hopefully I will clear my name and then I can come back".

He’s an unbelievable young man, strong, hard working, confident. He is doing so well.’

In 2008, Vince Acors, of Bromley, Kent, and Michelle Palmer, of Oakham, Rutland, were given three-month jail terms for having sex on Jumeirah Beach.

But the sentences, imposed for public indecency and having unmarried sex, were suspended on appeal. The pair denied having sex, claiming they had simply been ’kissing and cuddling’.

In other cases, officials in Dubai have adopted a relaxed approach when dealing with Westerners who have broken strict Islamic laws.

But the past few months have seen a crackdown on public drunkenness and having sex outside marriage.