DUBAI // A man from Saudi Arabia who was accused of “disrespecting religion” while trying to board a plane when drunk was found not guilty by Dubai Criminal Court.
On January 14 at about 10pm police were contacted by a Moroccan who works at the boarding counter in Terminal 2 at Dubai International Airport.
“He came to me asking for a boarding pass and he was completely drunk, so I told him he could not get on the plane in this condition and asked him politely to grab a cup of coffee at the cafe,” said the 45-year-old customer service agent.
About five minutes later the man returned but was still drunk, so the agent asked him to drink more coffee before boarding.
“He suddenly hit me on the waist then showered me with insults before he used foul language to talk about God,” said the airport employee, who called police.
The Moroccan later dropped charges against the defendant who was still referred to court on a blasphemy charge. The 27-year-old denied the charge in court in July and is now.
salamir@thenational.ae
