That an Emirati man has been charged in the UAE for driving offences committed outside the country came as a surprise to many. But as Attorney General Ali Al Bulooshi explained, Emiratis abroad serve as informal ambassadors for their country so their conduct has to be held to a high standard.
The driver has not been publicly identified but was arrested in Abu Dhabi after police here were alerted to a video posted of him performing dangerous stunts in a neighbouring Gulf country. This case follows others, including an Abu Dhabi driver who was prosecuted in October after performing a wheelspin in his car in a London street following a traffic dispute with a cyclist.
The scope of this law, which extends beyond the jurisdiction of the UAE and into the sovereign territory of another country, has few – if any – equivalents in other legal systems. The prospect of an Emirati being charged over actions in a foreign country that are legal there but not here shows the Pandora’s Box that can be opened by this kind of legislation.
In this case, however, the law has been applied in a prudent and pragmatic manner. As prosecutors explained, Emiratis can be charged if they either break UAE law while overseas or the law of the country they are visiting. However, they will only be liable for prosecution in the UAE if they have not been charged in the country where the offence occurred, avoiding the risk of being prosecuted twice for one incident.
There are good reasons behind the spirit of this law. A small percentage of wealthy Gulf nationals are famous for descending on London in the early summer and driving around in supercars, with a fraction of them doing so recklessly. It is little wonder that many observers think that every Gulf national is both as rich as Croesus and as badly behaved as an overindulged child.
We, of course, know the folly in this assumption, but still the UAE suffers reputational damage from the tiny proportion of people who act badly overseas. As the police say – and as this law upholds – they really do act as ambassadors for the rest of us. If the international reach of this law deters bad behaviour, we all stand to benefit.
