A US Air Force veteran and his brother have been jailed for drinking beer in Dubai. Joseph and Joshua Lopez of Ohio were sentenced to four months in prison for drinking on a yacht in the conservative Islamic nation, and a human rights organization told reporters that they had been drugged and robbed. Radha Stirling of Detained in Dubai supports the brothers and insists they were “targeted by scammers.”
Stirling has called on US politicians, including Ohio Senator and Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance, to intervene on behalf of the Americans. Parker Magid, a spokesperson for Senator Vance, said he has “been in constant communication” with US government departments, the Lopez family, and the United Arab Emirates government.
The Detained in Dubai CEO stated that criminals in the United Arab Emirates regularly target Western visitors and they do so with the help of local police. Stirling added that Dubai is not the “safe tourist destination” that is marketed internationally. The US State Department said it is aware of the brothers’ plight and is “monitoring the situation.”
On its website, Detained in Dubai states that the US citizens will spend Christmas in prisons notorious for human rights abuses. In her statement on the Lopez brothers, Ms. Stirling writes that their case is similar to that of other tourists who have been “re-victimized” by the justice system, including women who are raped and then charged with adultery.
In one notorious case, a British woman was arrested after reporting a rape by fellow Britons. Her passport was confiscated and she was detained, mirroring several similar notorious instances. An Australian woman, for example, spent eight months in a Dubai prison after reporting rape, even though she provided evidence of violence against her and that she had been drugged.
The Norwegian government intervened after one of its citizens was jailed for 16 months for reporting rape. She was only allowed to return home after United Arab Emirate officials issued a pardon. Rights groups are increasingly warning against traveling to the country and say its government is aware of the rights violations that regularly occur there.
