Dubai: Committing an indecent gesture in public is an act punishable by the UAE Penal Law.
Deportation is also compulsory against expatriates who are found guilty of flashing their middle finger in public or committing any other form of public indecency.
Flashing a middle finger, scratching or touching one's private parts in an unacceptable and indecent manner before others, urinating, exposing private parts, showing private parts to surveillance cameras, showing affection or exaggerated intimacy, having or being involved in any form of sexual activity in public (in any open place such as the beach, in a car, in a public toilet) or pecking someone's cheek or kissing are acts that are, in most incidents, deemed as public indecency.
Those who are charged with committing an indecent act in public are referred to the Dubai Misdemeanour Court. They could face between one month and a maximum of three years in prison. Yet punishment is often decided at the judge's discretion.
Members of the judicial industry and police officers constantly advise non-Emirati residents to have better control over their behaviour in public and avoid indulging in public obscenity or indecency such as flashing the middle finger, kissing, cuddling or hugging or exposing themselves.
According to the Federal Penal Law No. 3, 1987 concerning crimes against honour and dignity, article 358 stipulates that a suspect who commits an indecent gesture in public faces a minimum of six months in jail, and anyone who breaches the privacy, honour or dignity of a minor under the age of 15, in public or in private, faces a minimum one year in jail. Again, punishment is at the judge's discretion.
Last week, two Indian men were jailed for six months each followed by deportation for having sex in a public toilet at a local bus station.
Meanwhile, an Iranian businesswoman was jailed for one month followed by deportation for flashing her middle finger in the face of two policemen in a five-star hotel.
