16 May 2009

If the UAE's laws applied in South Africa, our President would be in jail (for sex outside wedlock), as laws require that a woman & man who are not married to each another do not have sex and should not even be alone in public places. Roxanne Hillier was working in the Emirate of Sharjah, at a dive centre, the third-largest of the UAE’s 7 emirates. On the 16th May 2009 police raided her dive centre on the Gulf of Oman in Khor Fakkan after her and her boss had returned from hosting a night dive (Roxanne's friends had called the police as they were concerned about her whereabouts that night). Police kicked open her locked bedroom door in which she was alone, pulled her out and took her to the hospital for examination. Medical reports from Fariqani hospital state that no traces of semen were found on either Roxanne or her 41-year-old Emirati employer. Nevertheless Hillier, who turned 22-years-old in jail, was arrested for having sex with and being alone in a room with a man. In the UAE court Roxanne was asked 3 questions: 'Did you have sex with the co-accused?' She answered 'no'. 'Were you in a room alone with him?' She answered 'no'. 'Are you married?' She answered 'no'. Roxanne sobbed after a court translator told her she been found guilty on the 2 charges and sentenced to 3 months in jail. Roxanne's boss received a 6-month sentence. Hillier lost her appeal against the sentence on the 14th June 2009.