Spread the love

A mother of three who claims she was thrown in a Dubai jail cell with her four-year-old daughter after admitting drinking a single complimentary glass of wine on an Emirates flight, has been abruptly released to return home after widespread media outrage.

British dentist Ellie Holman, 44, was arrested by immigration officers and confined in an airport detention centre cell with her four-year-old daughter, shortly after her flight landed in Dubai.

Holman arrived in Dubai after an eight-hour flight from London, only to learn from immigration officers on arrival that her visa had expired. She was told she would have to return to London.

Horrified at the prospect of a long-haul flight back home with a young child, Holman argued with immigration officers, London’s Sun reported. One of them didn’t like her tone and asked if she had been drinking.

“I told him I had a glass of wine on the flight. It was given to me free by Emirates Airlines staff,” she said.

That did it. The officer informed her alcohol consumption was a crime in the United Arab Emirates and placed her under arrest.

Holman claims police confiscated her phone and the pair’s passports. Holman was then taken to a police station for an alcohol test, which she said recorded 0.04% of alcohol in her blood. (She would be legal to drive in any Australian state with that level.)

She says she and daughter were then cast into a “baking hot and foul smelling” cell, where she had to beg police for food and water. They were refused permission to use the toilet, so her little girl had to urinate on the cell floor, she told the Sun.

Holman’s husband rushed to Dubai on learning what had happened and authorities let him take their daughter home, but Holman herself was not allowed to leave.

Holman was released on bail three days later and told she faced up to a year waiting for her case to be heard, with her passport confiscated. She said the ordeal had so far cost her the equivalent of about AUD 52,000 in legal fees and other expenses.

Then, after a torrent of publicity, and representations by the organisation Detained in Dubai (a non-governmental organisation “formed to assist people who have become victims of injustice in the United Arab Emirates”), the case was suddenly dropped. Holman was freed, given her passport back and allowed to go home.

Dubai Airport

She told the Guardian: “I am shocked and excited to be returning home to England and that this nightmare is coming to an end.”

The case comes shortly after similar bad publicity surrounding a case in which Emirates allegedly removed a disabled boy and his family from a flight in Dubai. See: Emirates evicts disabled teen and family from flight

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), gives the following strict warning about drinking in public in the UAE (including Dubai), although there’s no suggestion Holman had done that.

Drinking in public

It’s illegal to drink alcohol or be intoxicated in public. You can be arrested. Foreigners have been arrested on arrival after becoming intoxicated on incoming aircraft or while in transit.

Be careful if using a taxi when intoxicated. If you have a dispute with a driver or vomit in a taxi, you may be taken directly to the police station and charged with public intoxication. 

If you commit any misdemeanour or offence while under the influence of alcohol, you will most likely be charged with both the misdemeanour and intoxication.

Penalties for alcohol-related offences include:

  • fines
  • imprisonment
  • deportation

DFAT emphasises: Remember these apply to you – even if transiting.

 

Written by Peter Needham