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Airline pair jailed over se*x texting

Awad Mustafa

• Last Updated: March 17. 2010 12:53AM UAE / March 16. 2010 8:53PM GMT

DUBAI // Two Emirates Airline cabin crew have been jailed for three months for exchanging lewd text messages.

RS, 42, a flight attendant, and EB, 47, a cabin services supervisor, were convicted of “coercion to commit sin” after sending each other sexually themed SMS messages, according to court documents released yesterday.

The pair, both Indian, were sentenced to six months in prison and deportation by the Dubai Court of Misdemeanors in December.
The court said the texts “fulfilled all the necessary angles of coercion to the commitment of sin”.

The Appeals Court upheld that decision last week. But it halved their jail sentences and scrapped the deportation orders.

There was not enough evidence to prove that the pair had extramarital relations, it added.

The flight attendant’s sister, BM, 25, was also convicted of perjury and sentenced to three months and deportation by the lower court. Her deportation order was withdrawn on appeal.
The case first went to court after the flight attendant’s husband, SG, filed a lawsuit against his wife in March 2009 claiming that she was involved in an illicit relationship with the supervisor.

The couple had been embroiled in a divorce battle since 2007.

SG has now gained sole custody of their four-year-old son, although it was not clear when the couple divorced.

During the divorce proceedings, SG requested that the courts order Etisalat to produce copies of his wife’s text messages, which, he said, proved the illicit relationship. The telecoms provider turned them over to the court in October 2008.

Five months later, the flight attendant’s husband filed a criminal complaint against her, charging her with having an affair and saying her text messages were an insult to Islam.

She told police that her sister sent the messages to the supervisor, who also denied any relationship with RS.

He told officers that he had been seeing her sister for the past four years.
Prosecutors decided that was untrue, however, leading to the perjury charge against the sister.

amustafa@thenational.ae


http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll ... 69807/1010

i told you we have all kind of trash and felth in this country.

Why weren't they deported ???

etisalat has got a record of all of our text messages?

Well, it would be surprising if it was between 2 unmarried adults. Given that one and possibly both were married, I dont see anything wrong in punishing them.

Ghalib wrote:etisalat has got a record of all of our text messages?

everyone including BT, orange, Vodafone etc records our text messages but they only use them when it involves a CRIME and when USA wants to see what we right now and then

Etisalat cannot possibly monitor all the messages being sent and received everyday.

They must have a nanny software that catches messages with key words like s*ex, the F word, the names of the genitals…etc.

What a waste of time and resources!!!!

Oh cripes. Most people I know would be banged up by now if this was a regular thing. Pfffff big brother attitude, who elses bsiness is it apart from the people involved.

Get a life people.

In the UK and other countries you cannot just use things like this as evidence you have to obtain a court order.

Once again utterly stupid. Why waste time and money on things like this? How about going out there and catching the real criminals, like the Braccuda Bandits and the tools who try to take peoples lives every day on the roads. But oh wait, I forget where I am, common sense doesn't exist.

Yeah it is tough and does sound like a waste in resources. However this is a muslim country and with technology taking over .... I guess there will be stringent "regulations"/action to be imposed.

I recall sometime ago there was a legal debate whether divorce over message is considered legal ?! Perhaps humans are just taking things too easy these days instead of make effort?! Back in the old days you actually have to make efforts to do anything. These days we can stay at home and order anything with a phone call.

I am not saying its right but what is next? Culture vs technology - tis a tough one ....

You all shouldn't lose sight of the fact that the woman involved was going or had gone through a messy divorce and as a married woman with a husband here it is rather more than just texting.

sage & onion wrote:You all shouldn't lose sight of the fact that the woman involved was going or had gone through a messy divorce and as a married woman with a husband here it is rather more than just texting.

Yup thats true. Due to court case and requirement from the court, Etisalat retrieves the information. And the messages probably werent just petty love notes.
Lesson to be learnt, be very careful with whatever you are doing when involved in legal cases !!

This is too much. For god's sake, just live and bloody let live. Moniroting sms messages? Give me a break

dee7o wrote:This is too much. For god's sake, just live and bloody let live. Moniroting sms messages? Give me a break

Divorce is rarely a live and let live affair. I am sure that the dubai police would prefer not to have to get involved, but if called upon they will.

dee7o wrote:This is too much. For god's sake, just live and bloody let live. Moniroting sms messages? Give me a break

This is not limited to Dubai alone, what about Tiger Woods and numerous others like him.

sage & onion wrote:You all shouldn't lose sight of the fact that the woman involved was going or had gone through a messy divorce and as a married woman with a husband here it is rather more than just texting.

Divorce case or not, the fact remains that the 6-month jail sentence was given because of the existence of the “dirty” messages.

The messages were retrieved in an attempt to prove the extra marital affair, which led the court to believe that there was also a sexual affair, hence the 6-month sentence.

Two problems with that:

a- The SMS messages (alone) provided a single circumstantial evidence to the sexual affair, if any. Such evidence, by itself, is normally not enough to convict people in the West - in criminal and civil cases.

b- Even if there is evidence to the sexual affair, as DNA evidence, the prosecution has to prove that the sexual encounters had happened within the physical jurisdiction of the UAE. Given the accused couple were flight attendants, they could’ve had their intimate sessions (again, if any) in other world cities.

Tom Jones wrote:

sage & onion wrote:You all shouldn't lose sight of the fact that the woman involved was going or had gone through a messy divorce and as a married woman with a husband here it is rather more than just texting.

Divorce case or not, the fact remains that the 6-month jail sentence was given because of the existence of the “dirty” messages.

The messages were retrieved in an attempt to prove the extra marital affair, which led the court to believe that there was also a sexual affair, hence the 6-month sentence.

Two problems with that:

a- The SMS messages (alone) provided a single circumstantial evidence to the sexual affair, if any. Such evidence, by itself, is normally not enough to convict people in the West - in criminal and civil cases.

b- Even if there is evidence to the sexual affair, as DNA evidence, the prosecution has to prove that the sexual encounters had happened within the physical jurisdiction of the UAE. Given the accused couple were flight attendants, they could’ve had their intimate sessions (again, if any) in other world cities.

Tom I think you are incorrect as to "where" the sessions took place. I believe flight attendants (Emirates) are randomly tested for drugs when they return from flights out of country and I recall one case where an attendant tested positive for cannibus and although she ingested it out of the UAE, she was put under arrest. I'm sure Chocs could confirm this (the testing), or not.

TJ, you are absolutely correct, in the context of a fully developed and mature legal system, the plaintiff is required by law to prove "beyond a reasonable doubt" the charge and to provide evidence of the fact;

however, therein lies the problem .........

I submit by way of example; the Chief of Police calling for the immediate arrest and incarceration of the J3wish people who had their passports cloned by the tennis team, and that they be made to prove their innocence (I suppose whilst having their nether regions wired to a 240V mains supply !!)


In order to better understand the Lokal judicial system we expats need to set aside all preconceived ideas and notions of right and wrong that are instilled in us from an early age.

In the UAE

- You are guilty until proven innocent
- A verbal accusation by a person of good standing (usually a lokal) is enough to have you jailed, no actually evidence is required by the court
- The judiciary has no obligation to provide you with legal defense or even access to legal services
- You have no right to refuse to anwser allegations or questions that (a) you do not understand or (b) might in some way appear to incriminate you
- You are required to sign your name to court documents that you have no opportunity to understand under penalty of further prosecution by the Court (Willfully hindering the investigation)
- Cross examination of your accuser(s) is at the discretion of the judge, not your right
- The system sees no Conflict of Interest in your lawyer (if you have one) acting for the plaintiff as well as you (that is not an admissible fact)
- Your lawyer in court must be a Lokal lawyer (minus the 23 Somali and Egyptian lawyers with special dispensation to appear)


And this list goes on and on .... to the point where even the Criminal, Civil and Appeal courts are subject to the guidance of the Diwans at the behest of those with enough Wasta to reroute the course of justice.

Any similarity to a "legal system" ends at the those two words.

Sad to say the legal system here needs brushing up. I had an unfortunate incident recently and eventhough it is not my fault (with the police verification), I have been told that I wouldn't win the case if I brought it to the court. So I might as well not waste my time and money. I was told, the court will just tell me ".... because it is the law...." whatever "the" law maybe !

Having said that this is still a young country. Progress learning albeit a little slow perhaps ...?!

viking-warrior wrote:TJ, you are absolutely correct, in the context of a fully developed and mature legal system, the plaintiff is required by law to prove "beyond a reasonable doubt" the charge and to provide evidence of the fact;

however, therein lies the problem .........

I submit by way of example; the Chief of Police calling for the immediate arrest and incarceration of the J3wish people who had their passports cloned by the tennis team, and that they be made to prove their innocence (I suppose whilst having their nether regions wired to a 240V mains supply !!)


In order to better understand the Lokal judicial system we expats need to set aside all preconceived ideas and notions of right and wrong that are instilled in us from an early age.

In the UAE

- You are guilty until proven innocent
- A verbal accusation by a person of good standing (usually a lokal) is enough to have you jailed, no actually evidence is required by the court
- The judiciary has no obligation to provide you with legal defense or even access to legal services
- You have no right to refuse to anwser allegations or questions that (a) you do not understand or (b) might in some way appear to incriminate you
- You are required to sign your name to court documents that you have no opportunity to understand under penalty of further prosecution by the Court (Willfully hindering the investigation)
- Cross examination of your accuser(s) is at the discretion of the judge, not your right
- The system sees no Conflict of Interest in your lawyer (if you have one) acting for the plaintiff as well as you (that is not an admissible fact)
- Your lawyer in court must be a Lokal lawyer (minus the 23 Somali and Egyptian lawyers with special dispensation to appear)


And this list goes on and on .... to the point where even the Criminal, Civil and Appeal courts are subject to the guidance of the Diwans at the behest of those with enough Wasta to reroute the course of justice.

Any similarity to a "legal system" ends at the those two words.

You forgot one VW. You can be held in prison if you are suspected of committing a crime. No proof or documentation required to make a case. You sit in jail, unable to put together a defense, until they can come up with something to support the accusation, and that can take a very long time.

Bora Bora wrote:

Tom Jones wrote:

sage & onion wrote:You all shouldn't lose sight of the fact that the woman involved was going or had gone through a messy divorce and as a married woman with a husband here it is rather more than just texting.

Divorce case or not, the fact remains that the 6-month jail sentence was given because of the existence of the “dirty” messages.

The messages were retrieved in an attempt to prove the extra marital affair, which led the court to believe that there was also a sexual affair, hence the 6-month sentence.

Two problems with that:

a- The SMS messages (alone) provided a single circumstantial evidence to the sexual affair, if any. Such evidence, by itself, is normally not enough to convict people in the West - in criminal and civil cases.

b- Even if there is evidence to the sexual affair, as DNA evidence, the prosecution has to prove that the sexual encounters had happened within the physical jurisdiction of the UAE. Given the accused couple were flight attendants, they could’ve had their intimate sessions (again, if any) in other world cities.

Tom I think you are incorrect as to "where" the sessions took place. I believe flight attendants (Emirates) are randomly tested for drugs when they return from flights out of country and I recall one case where an attendant tested positive for cannibus and although she ingested it out of the UAE, she was put under arrest. I'm sure Chocs could confirm this (the testing), or not.

The drug thing is a bit different than this case.

That’s basically governed by the terms and conditions of the contract between Emirates and its employees. The contract forbids all employees, especially those who fly, from taking illicit drugs whether they are on or off the job, or whether they are in or outside the UAE.

However, the contract cannot obviously forbid the employees from having romantic and intimate relationships when they are off the job. If that’s the case, they wouldn’t have too many people working for them.

In all cases, the employees are required to respect the locals laws of the country they happen to be in, including, needless to say, the UAE.

Oh…forgot to mention one thing earlier (had to run out of the house for something):

BB, you still have a point bringing this case up. The Emirates flight attendant should not have been arrested for testing positive for a drug that she’d taken outside the UAE. In my opinion, she should’ve only been fired by Emirates for violating her employment contract.

But again, we don’t know what the contract said. It could’ve said that she would be prosecuted under a certain provision….perhaps for endangering the safety of the passengers by being under the influence of a narcotic drug.