Dubai court upholds sentence for kissing British couple

The pair -- identified in British press as 24-old-year marketing executive Ayman Najafi and 25-year-old tourist Charlotte Adams -- were convicted in January and sentenced to one month in jail followed by deportation, and fined USD 270 for consuming alcohol, the National newspaper reported.

The defendants were arrested after an Emirati woman with her family filed a complaint on November 28 claiming that the two had been kissing and touching each other in a sexual manner in front of her children at a dinner in Jumeirah Beach Residence, it said.

Both the accused admitted drinking alcohol but denied committing a sexual act, claiming they had kissed each other on the cheek as a greeting.The defendants' lawyer Khalfan al Hosani told the judges that the 38-year-old Emirati woman – currently the only adult witness in the case – had presented two different testimonies to police and public prosecutors, the paper said.

In 2008, two Britons accused of having sex on the beach got three months in jail, though their sentences were later suspended.Last month, two Indian cabin crew of UAE's Emirates Airline were sentenced to three-month in jail in connection with a case of exchanging "lewd" text messages.
A 42-year-old flight attendant and a 47-year-old cabin services supervisor -- both unidentified -- of Emirates Airline were convicted of "coercion to commit sin" after sending each other sexually themed SMS messages, it said.