Letters To Louis: “Dubai police told me that I was a wanted criminal”
Entry: 3
On 13 June 2011, three officers from Dubai CID police came to the hotel where I was temporarily staying and arrested me along with my baby of 14 months. I was told that I was a ‘wanted person’. My husband had filed a criminal complaint to the police that I had absconded with our son. This was despite the fact that we were in the midst of legal proceedings and staying in a hotel, in central Dubai, with my whereabouts well known to all the parties concerned.
My husband had kicked us out of the family home a couple of months prior. Our marriage had broken down because of domestic abuse. Under Emirati law, I had no rights, as the home was in his name and there was no access to state support. Had it not been for my family back in the UK, Louis and I would have ended up sleeping on the streets of Dubai. We had no friends and no one would help us. The hotel was our only refuge.
I was subsequently detained in a police cell, in searing heat for over four hours without food and water for little Louis. There was no air conditioning and sanitation. It was on this occasion that I was assaulted by a police officer.
The British Embassy refused to come to my assistance and left Louis and I to fester in the searing heat of injustice. This was to become a familiar pattern of persecution by the Dubai authorities.
I remember making a frantic phone call to the vice consul on the way to the police station. I was petrified and Louis was crying. When a foreign citizen is arrested by the authorities, the first port of call is often their Embassy. What she told me in those frantic moments in the back of the police car seemed like it was taken out of a satirical sketch ….she told me that there was nothing the British Embassy could do. I hadn’t been charged BUT if I was going to end up in jail then they “they would visit me”.
Louis and I were held in detention for over four hours. It was one of the most traumatic periods in my life. I felt completely helpless and worthless. I had no rights, no access to a lawyer and I realised that no one from the Embassy was going to come to my aid.
The only nugget of advice the British Embassy could offer me was to file an official complaint to the Dubai police. I duly complied and copied my letter to William Hague, the UK Foreign Minister at the time, the French and Dubai Ambassadors.
For nearly six years, I wrote many letters like this to the UK Foreign Office and Dubai officials begging for help and protection.
I was being pursued by an abusive husband who would not stop until he was satisfied that I was ‘wiped out’. Our son, Louis became a casualty of his rage against me.
Louis was too young to understand what was going on at the time and how desperate and frightened I was. It’s still painful to write about that period of my life. All I remember is how hard I fought to protect little Louis. I was alone in a foreign country being continuously arrested, detained and locked up. The Emirati officials showed no compassion or mercy. In their eyes, I was no different to the other Asian migrant domestic workers whose only role was servitude.
We were not released until many hours later and only after the police had ‘cleared’ matters with my husband. He had always threatened me with the police and now he had weaponised his threat in the most awful way imaginable — by having mother and child locked up in a Dubai prison cell.
When I confronted him later that day as to why he would let our son suffer like this, he told me that “it was to teach me a lesson” I will never forget those words. These words are synonymous with domestic violence abusers. Anyone who has experienced domestic abuse will be familiar with this pattern of control, misogyny and humiliation.
I have transcribed my original letter of complaint [below].
At the time of writing, I was desperate and incoherent. I was homeless once again, brutalised by recent events and found myself trawling around the local neighbourhood clutching a young baby to try and find internet facilities so that I could write this complaint.
I naively believed that my complaint would be investigated, the wrong would be corrected and that somehow compassion would win the day. How tragically wrong I was.
My letter was sent to the Dubai police and the British Embassy in Dubai. The latter kept a contemporaneous record of all my letters, correspondence and phone calls. A redacted version of the The Foreign office record is reproduced in this article:
The only comfort that I can take from this period of my life is that Louis was too young to comprehend the sheer horror and trauma of what was happening to us. He had his mother’s love and protection and that was all he needed.
Dear Major General Tamim
It is with great sorrow and desperation that I wish to bring my situation to your attention as an appalling case of injustice and persecution. I also wish to lodge an official complaint of police mistreatment and persecution of me and my one year old baby.
I am a British woman with a one year old baby and am being terrorised and persecuted by her husband ( French National) who seems to be using the Dubai police as his own private police force.
On Monday 13th June 2011 at approximately 10.30am, I was arrested by 3 police officers from Bur Dubai CID and told to go to the police station with them. When I asked them what I was being charged with, they would not tell me and just said that my estranged husband had filed a complaint to say that I had absconded and gone into hiding with our baby and therefore I was a ‘wanted’ person.
I tried to tell them that this was completely ridiculous as we are in the middle of civil legal proceedings and both our lawyers in regular contact and my whereabouts were well known. I explained that there was a travel ban on our one year old son, placed by my estranged husband, so there was no question of fleeing anywhere! I was very frightened and intimidated by the police officers. This is my 3rd encounter with Bur Dubai police and on each occasion I have been treated very roughly and with complete disregard for my dignity and self respect.
The police officers did not allow me enough time for me to get my baby’s food and clothes together and demanded that I go with them immediately. I was held at Bur Dubai police station for over four hours whilst they waited for my estranged husband to turn up. They did not allow me any access to my lawyers (who were at the police station) or consular assistance.
After the first hour and half, without warning I was put in the womens jail downstairs, When I asked why one of the officers told me that as I was a ‘wanted criminal’ I had to be locked up. I was very distressed and frightened at this. My poor baby and I were locked up in this cell for over two hours with no facility to change my baby or sit in a chair. During this time I was denied any access to water and food for my baby.
I asked the female guard, officer 17945 a number of times that my baby needed food and water she shouted at me and then started to threaten me that if I didn’t shut up, there would be trouble for me. I was very frightened for my child and the thought of him having no water or food for hours in a non air conditioned environment was very traumatic, I thought my baby would die there and then. I pleaded with the guard and asked her if she wanted my baby to die here in the cell without food and water. She shouted more abuse at me in Arabic and told me to shut up again.
I was eventually released after five hours after having provided a statement to the police . I told the senior officers about the abuse from the female guard and the denial of food and water. But my complaint was completely ignored. My husband made a false allegation that I had gone into hiding even though his legal team knew where I was and there are civil legal proceedings ongoing.
Instead of using the court process to sort out the civil case, my husband prefers to use and abuses the Dubai police to harass and intimidate me and this is not the first occasion he has done this. He keeps making false allegations against me, and is persecuting me….
He keeps filing criminal cases so that the baby and I are trapped in Dubai. The proof is the number of complaints to the police and ongoing complaints he has made to numerous authorities in Dubai.
I have explained the whole situation to the police on every occasion and they are not interested and have treated me and my baby appallingly.
My baby and I have suffered extreme trauma at the hands of the police and inhuman treatment resulting in one year old baby being denied food and water. My baby could have had a fatal accident during our detention and they would have allowed that to happen. How could Dubai police treat us like animals and allow my baby to starve like this?
My husband is using the police to persecute me and for some reason they listen to him and not to me. I have done nothing wrong and am a mother who just wants to take care of my young baby and live in peace. He persecutes me because I do not want to live with someone whose violent and unstable behaviour puts me and my baby at risk.
I have tried to ignore the harassment and abuse from the police as I’m going through a legal process and as I respect the laws of the UAE. I have not retaliated even though my husband has beaten me up previously and threatened to kill me on more than one occasion. But now, I feel I am persecuted not only by my violent husband but also by Bur Dubai police as well. Even as I write, he continues to file false/malicious complaints against me. I am told by the police that he can put in as many complaints as he likes and the police will act upon this even though, the police know all about our case and the context. A search on your system will verify the number of complaints he has made to the court, the police, his employer etc.
In England, the police would prosecute those who waste police time by making false and malicious complaints . Every time, I have been asked by the police, I have complied and provided a statement. I have not been charged with anything and do not understand that once the police have the full picture why they don’t take action against my estranged husband for wasting their time and making false claims?
Throughout all of this, not one consideration is given to my poor little baby . As an adult and a mother I can withstand a certain amount of suffering. But my child is innocent, why is he made to suffer at the hands of a vengeful parent. My baby suffers every time I am dragged to the police station and made to wait endless hours without food and water for him while these false complaints are examined.
I have always held the utmost respect for the laws of this land and the UAE people. I also know you have the utmost regard for human rights and dignity. However, the treatment of me and my baby by the police shows a different side to Dubai where innocent young children are made to suffer inhuman treatment at the hands of a vengeful father. This is not in accordance with Islamic values and is both inhuman as well as unjust.
My husband has a proven history of abuse towards women, he has had a prior conviction for sexual harassment in the USA (I have told the police this but they are not interested). He has threatened to kill me on more than one occasion (I have witnesses) and no one wants to listen to me. I fear for the life of me and my baby whilst he is allowed to terrorise us with all these false complaints and intimidation and that he will harm me and my baby if his behaviour is not stopped.
I want this matter to be fully investigated and my husband charged with false allegations and action taken against Bur Dubai police for our mistreatment on the 13th June, and previous incident of harassment by officer Musa (see incident log below) of Bur Dubai police station.
My husband kicked us out of the marital home, and the police said I had no right to be there as the house wasn’t in my name. He refuses to provide for us and thus I have no money and no home and am being hunted like a wild animal by my husband. More painfully, it is my baby that suffers the most. I continue to live in fear of my husband and have no help or support mechanism out here in Dubai. This is having a detrimental and debilitating effect on my young baby.
I have notified my embassy of this complaint as I’m very frightened and intimidated by the police. I used to think that the UAE treated everyone with respect and dignity and upheld Islamic values with regard to the welfare of women and children. I do not understand why the authorities are allowing my estranged husband to persecute my baby and I?
This is a most appalling case of injustice and persecution at the hands of a person who sole objective is to persecute, harass and eventually kill an innocent child and mother. I am that aware that my estranged husband’s employment has been terminated by his employer …. his visa and our visas are void and he has effectively has no rights to be here in the UAE as he has no legitimate employment. Yet, he continues to file false complaints and as I stated he uses the police as his personal ‘police force’ to continue harassing me.
I am pleading with you both as father and humanitarian to look into my case and stop him from terrorising us. I just want to raise my baby in peace. He is trying to do everything he can to destroy us. Please do not let that happen.
Both my husband and I are European expatriates. By allowing a person to abuse the system and your police force in such a way is setting a dangerous precedent for others to do the same and will have a detrimental impact on the image of Dubai. As his employment visa has been revoked he is effectively a tourist, yet he continues to abuse both the immigration laws and the goodwill of the UAE. He is being allowed to flood the Dubai legal system with false complaints and opening cases without impunity. He has even gone round boasting about how easy it has been for him to do all this and only in Dubai can he get away with this sort of behaviour. This would be unacceptable in other country.
……. Dubai will gain a reputation as a place where violent and abusive men can come and abuse women and violate human rights. The criminal justice and legal system allows this to happen. Surely, this cannot be allowed to continue and will damage Dubai in terms of tourism and the economy.
I have copied this to my members of parliament, the foreign office, Secretary of State, William Hague and the UAE ambassador , His Excellency , Mr Abdul Rahman Ghana, all of whom are aware of my case. I urge you to look into my case with objectivity and compassion on behalf of my son.
Yours sincerely
Afsana Lachaux
