{"id":2905,"date":"2026-04-01T07:26:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T07:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/2905\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T07:26:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T07:26:15","slug":"british-expats-targeted-by-dubai-police-even-for-being-sent-photos-of-air-strike-damage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/2905\/","title":{"rendered":"British expats targeted by Dubai police even for being sent photos of air strike damage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Police in Dubai<\/a> have been targeting British expats and holidaymakers<\/a> by swooping on areas hit by drones or missiles and demanding to look at people\u2019s phones.<\/p>\n

Anyone arrested for taking or sharing photos of the war could be jailed for life under draconian national security laws in the UAE<\/a>, lawyers have warned.<\/p>\n

But even those who have been sent photos by other people will be targeted by police<\/a> looking for anyone breaching local cyber crime laws.<\/p>\n

Radha Stirling, whose group, Detained in Dubai, is assisting people arrested since the conflict erupted last month<\/a>, said they have received reports of dozens of British nationals being held at police stations for taking photos or posting about Iranian strikes \u2013 acts deemed alleged cyber crimes in the UAE.<\/p>\n

New FeatureIn ShortQuick Stories. Same trusted journalism.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe police officers on the streets quickly go up to everyone in the area and say, \u2018show me your phone\u2019. If there\u2019s a photograph, they take you into custody,\u201d she told The i Paper. \u201cIf someone shares a photo or a video in a group and one of those people is arrested they\u2019ll then go and target the other people who also received the photograph to check if they\u2019ve then distributed it to other people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others who received photos on group messages were informing authorities about the person who sent it, she said.<\/p>\n

People living near the site of Iranian strikes are being sent text messages in Arabic and English that warn: \u201cPhotographing or sharing security or critical sites, or reposting unreliable information, may result in legal action and compromise national security and stability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fears of attacks in prisons<\/p>\n

Those arrested have faced being kept in overcrowded cells with no space to sleep and denied access to medication, consular representation and access to phones, said Stirling. There are also concerns that some may be subjected to physical assault while behind bars.<\/p>\n

In a non-cyber crime case Detained in Dubai is dealing with, a British national currently held in the UAE smuggled out a handwritten note stating he and 15 other prisoners in his cell had been beaten by police.<\/p>\n

Among 20 people charged under cyber crime laws linked to missile strikes is a British man in his sixties.<\/p>\n

The group also includes a British airline employee detained when he shared a photo of Dubai airport with a private group of colleagues to ask whether it was safe to walk through the hub.<\/p>\n

UAE law prohibits people from taking or sharing photos and videos that could \u201cdisturb public security\u201d, with the length of detention up to authorities, said Stirling.<\/p>\n

While cyber crime laws carry a sentence of up to two years and a fine of \u00a340,000, some foreign nationals arrested were at risk of having their cases raised to a national security offence which can carry a life sentence, said Stirling.<\/p>\n

Influencers treated \u2018completely differently\u2019<\/p>\n

Influencers<\/a> had been treated \u201ccompletely differently\u201d by UAE authorities to expats or travellers, Stirling claimed.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of these crimes \u2013 or acts \u2013 were committed before the widespread warnings were circulated by the government, and most of them didn\u2019t know, most of them regretted, it most of them were co-operative,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey deleted the messages, instantly apologised, and they\u2019re still taken into custody. Meanwhile, influencers were brought into the police station and simply told, delete that picture.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Foreign Office is understood to be providing consular assistance to five British nationals detained on charges relating to taking images of Iranian attacks, while some have already been released.<\/p>\n

Reports from lawyers indicate the number held in detention facilities is around 50, said Stirling, who said British nationals detained overseas are increasingly bypassing the Foreign Office as they believe British officials cannot do anything to help them.<\/p>\n

Stirling claimed: \u201cTop-level diplomatic intervention from the UK remains ostensibly absent. Basic consular access for just a handful of Brits is simply not enough when citizens face lengthy jail terms for \u2018crimes\u2019 like taking a photo or letting a loved one know they\u2019re ok.\u201d<\/p>\n

One British national being held in a police detention facility told her \u201cevery couple of hours a dozen French people are released, and the Brits are still in there\u201d. <\/p>\n

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: \u201cWe are providing consular assistance to a small number of British nationals detained in the UAE in connection with this issue, and our ambassador is engaging with the Emirati authorities about their cases.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police in Dubai have been targeting British expats and holidaymakers by swooping on areas hit by drones or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1194,1195,1365,24,42,1438,5,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-2905","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"tag-dubai","9":"tag-expats","10":"tag-human-rights","11":"tag-iran","12":"tag-middle-east","13":"tag-uae","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}