Dubai: A man and a woman will spend a month in jail each after they were caught hugging and kissing at a petrol station washroom.
A petrol station attendant suspected that the Egyptian man and the Moroccan woman had been involved in something fishy as they had spent more than 10 minutes together inside the women's washroom.
He alerted his supervisor, who was then said to have peeped through the small rounded glass window of the washroom’s door and spotted the couple hugging and exchanging kisses.
The supervisor informed a police sergeant, who was present at the station.
The sergeant then knocked on the door and asked them to come out.
The Egyptian man and Moroccan woman were taken to the nearest police station for further investigation, showed records.
Prosecutors accused the couple of public indecency and accused the woman of drinking liquor.
Meanwhile, the man was solely charged with pretending to be a female by cross-dressing when he entered a women’s washroom.
When the duo showed up before the Dubai Misdemeanours Court, they pleaded not guilty to the December offence, but the Moroccan defendant admitted to consuming alcohol at the nightclub where she worked.
The Egyptian defendant contended before the court that he picked the woman up from her workplace to drop her back to her home and while driving she fell ill and had a stomach-ache, the reason which made him pull over at the station for her to use the washroom.
The Egyptian further argued that when the woman stayed nearly 10 minutes in the washroom, he felt worried and went inside to check on her and denied kissing her.
The Misdemeanours Court convicted the couple of public indecency and jailed them for one month each. The presiding judge further fined the Moroccan defendant Dh2,000 for consuming alcohol.
The defendants were also handed a deportation order.
However, the Egyptian was cleared of pretending to be a female.
The two defendants appealed their primary judgement before the Appeal Court where they renewed their not guilty pleas.
The Egyptian’s lawyer argued before the appellate court that his client did not hug or exchange kisses with the Moroccan woman.
The lawyer further asked the presiding judge to dismiss prosecution witnesses’ statements citing inconsistency and contradictions.
The defendants also argued before the appellate court that the witnesses’ statements were unfounded and based on malice.
The appellate court dismissed the defendants’ appeal and upheld their one-month jail term.
The defendants appealed again appealed this judgement before the Cassation Court which also confirmed the one-month punishment.
The couple will be deported following the completion of their punishments.
