British Couple Facing Jail in Dubai for Kissing in Restaurant
British couple Charlotte Lewis, 25, and Ayman Najafi, 24, have been accused of kissing in public at a Jumeirah Beach Residence restaurant and are facing up to one month in prison. The accusation comes after a mother complained to police that they were behaving indecently while she dined with her daughter.
Najafi has been living in Dubai for 18 months, and the two were accused of the act back in November. They were said to be consuming alcohol, intimately touching one another and kissing. However, it’s been reported that the pair are only friends.
After being accused of breaking Dubai’s decency laws, Najafi and Lewis were arrested and their passports taken away from them until they served their jail sentence. However, Khalaf al-Hosani, their appointed lawyer, says that they were released on bail and charged a £178 fine for illegally drinking alcohol. Then on Sunday, the two appealed the court, but won’t get a verdict until April 4.
According to the mother that complained about the couple, she was offended by their behavior. However, Hosani says that the two weren’t inappropriately kissing, but simply greeting one another as usual with a kiss on the cheek.
There have been two other cases where British couples have been accused of acting indecently. The first was in 2008, where a couple was accused of having drunken sex out of marriage. The second was this year, where the couple was accused of having sex out of wedlock. Both of the couples were cleared of the charges - the second couple by producing a certificate of marriage.