British woman faces Dubai jail over ‘horse’ insult

Abu Dhabi, April 8

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A UK woman is facing two years in jail in Dubai for calling her former husband’s new wife a “horse” on Facebook, campaigners said.

Laleh Shahravesh, 55, was arrested at a Dubai airport after flying there to attend her former husband’s funeral. The woman faces prosecution over two comments she posted on Facebook on pictures of her husband remarrying in 2016.

The Foreign Office said it was supporting the mother-of-one, the BBC reported on Sunday.

According to the report, Shahravesh was married to her former husband for 18 years, during which she lived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for eight months, said campaign group Detained in Dubai.

While she returned to the UK with her daughter, her husband stayed in the UAE and the couple got divorced.

The woman found her former husband was remarrying when she saw photos of the new couple on Facebook.

She posted two comments in Farsi on the photos, including one that said: “I hope you go under the ground you idiot. Damn you. You left me for this horse.”

Under the UAE’s cyber-crime laws, a person can be jailed and fined for making defamatory statements on social media. IANS