You have the right to remain ... in jail!

The 7am wake-up call never came! Hazy from a bad night sleep, I stumbled out of bed and realized I had 20 minutes to get ready, before my driver was picking me up. My skin still had the bed sheet imprints, a very creative pattern in fact, across arms, shoulders and chest. Back in Nigeria once more – this time I did get the Yellow Fever vaccine, because I just didn't have the stamina to argue with the "health officials". The vaccine is hard to come by in Dubai. Only very few hospitals have stock…better hope a Yellow Fever epidemic won’t break out there!

But this story is not about me, nor Nigeria, much as I want to complain again about the dysfunctional and inefficient immigration process in Lagos!

This story is about Jack and Betty. It could have been about the babies who have recently been left, abandoned, in various places around the Emirates – babies probably born out of wedlock or as a result of rape – but there is not much to tell about them. The mothers are terrified of risking jail, as it is illegal to have sex when unmarried, so they cannot keep their babies out of fear of being arrested. It is, sadly, just one of many untold stories from a Muslim region which cannot deal with reality of a warped set of rules. There will be a blog about this some other day.

No, this story is about an elderly British couple in their late 70’s, who, after 20 years can no longer legally work in Dubai (max age is 74); who now wants to return to England to live out their remaining years with their children and grand kids. A lifetime of personal memories and material things would turn out to be too expensive to ship; the rate for a container too much for Jack and Betty. The container was packed but the quote came in at nearly $8000. So Betty decided to review their items and sort through the furniture to keep or sell, so the quote would be less. But before she could do this, the container was erroneously shipped and now on its way towards England; the bill payable for the full amount. The couple tried to settle the bill in instalments. Apparently that didn’t work out.

Unfortunately, debt is the worst thing to have in this sandbox. Once a company is owed money and they try to collect, a chain of events is set into motion and very quickly a situation that appears manageable, can spiral out of control. That’s how Jack found himself in jail for a month. Once you have unpaid debts, your bank accounts and assets are frozen, (which makes no sense as you’re trying to pay your bills), so unable to get immediate help from their children back in the UK, Jack and Betty desperately tried to rectify the problem. But in the Emirates, you are guilty until proven innocent and it doesn’t matter what the nature of the crime or problem. Often, as we learned when Hunter’s bicycle was stolen, it is the victim who quickly becomes the perpetrator, in a set of circumstances where logic is turned up side down.

Unfortunately for Jack, the process of collection had begun, not with warning calls or letters, but with the worst outcome first – jail for 30 days, which quickly was increased to 90 days when he couldn’t pay their rent, because….their bank account is frozen!

So when Jack is done serving his sentence March 17, for “non-payment” of shipping charges, in the notorious Central Jail; he can start his next sentence for the rent non-payment, and so forth and so on. There is also an un-paid rental car bill which can’t be settled as the bank account is frozen.

We first heard about Jack and Betty in our radical “push the envelope” daily newspaper called 7Days. We love 7Days – they go straight to the edge of censorship and while they remain factual, they really question and highlight the idiotic system here, just barely avoiding getting their reporters in trouble. Kind of like me and blog….

As you might expect, hundreds of letters poured in, in support of the couple, from people including myself, with offers to help Betty with housing, shopping, legal help etc. Because their bank accounts were frozen, she could not shop for food, and has been forced to stay in a small apartment until this is sorted. The lead reporter responded to each of us, that the Newspaper staff was also looking into helping and were in contact with Betty here and the children in the UK.

Always a curious soul, in my letter to the Editor, I questioned why the couple’s 3 children weren’t assisting, let alone flying to Dubai immediately after Jack was jailed. I mean, there is no way Aric and I would ever leave Tom in jail….well maybe one night, but that would only be because Tom wouldn’t bail Aric out of jail in college!! We certainly wouldn’t leave him in there for more than 2, max 3 days ;-)

The reporter told me the kids don’t have enough money to pay for the shipping container charges. They could only manage to pool money for two airline tickets for Jack and Betty’s return. Well it’s none of our business, but your mom and dad are stuck, with dad in a hot, humid – no A/C - jail normally frequented by …let’s say a high concentration of Arab’s, Indians, Bangladeshi and Pakistanis….all charged with a variety of crimes from theft, rape, fraud, unpaid tolls, people trafficking, murder and illegal consumption of alcohol. Just where you want to place a 78 year old, British, grandpa. No prison break here!
To make matters worse, Jack fell from the van on his way to prison and seriously injured his back. It took guards 10 days to get a doctor. Despite this he has only just been given a bed in his crowded, filthy cell.
With the newspaper’s help, a bank account has been set up in Betty’s name for donations; last we checked, they now have 25,000 Dirhams (nearly enough to settle the shipping charges). This is not the end of the problem though. The government has to realize that changes to the law and procedures must happen, in order for growth and prosperity to happen. Is it any wonder that people who leave Dubai, sneak away and leave their cars and belongings behind, rather than risking jail for months?