Dubai: Two men who offered sexual services on a social networking site have each been sentenced to three years in jail.
The Emirati defendants, 22-year-old A.S. and 30-year-old A.H., were said to have offered sexual services and dancing for money on WhosHere.
The Dubai Court of First Instance had earlier handed the duo the same punishment in absentia.
The two men were arrested later and forwarded to court for a retrial, as per the Criminal Procedures Law.
During the retrial, the defendants pleaded not guilty.
An Emirati police lieutenant said A.S. and A.H. were detained in a sting operation at a five-star hotel room, where A.S. was caught naked while he was preparing to have sex with a police informant.
A.H. was caught with a towel wrapped around his waist when he, too, was readying himself to dance in September.
Prosecution records said one of the defendants had been involved in similar cases in 2007.
Court records said A.S. called himself Mayoud Al Barari on WhosHere and profiled himself as a male prostitute and promoted sexual services.
Prosecutors charged him with breaching public modesty by publishing his photos wearing women’s undergarments and in full make-up.
He was also charged with inciting others to commit a sin by offering to dance for men.
The lieutenant testified that Dubai Police arrested the defendants in a sting operation after they arranged with A.S. to offer them sexual services for Dh1,500 at a hotel on Al Mina Road.
The primary judgement remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
