I was once invited to attend an event in Dubai, but after I read stories of people going to prison there for stupid reasons (like a man from Britain who received a four year prison sentence when customs officers found a microscopic speck of cannabis stuck to the bottom of his shoe, and a another man who went to prison for "possession of three poppy seeds left over from a bread roll he ate at Heathrow Airport") I bowed out.
Here's another reason you might want to think twice about going to Dubai: you can get jailed for having sex if you aren't married.
From Gulf News:
The British woman arrived in Dubai for a visit and she accompanied her Emirati friend to the luxury hotel in Bur Dubai in 2016.
Shortly after showing his identification to the hotel staff, the Emirati had a heated argument with the security guard and refused to present the woman's identification papers when asked to do so before going up to the room. The guard called the police.
Following several attempts to make the couple open the hotel room door, police obtained the prosecutors' permission to raid the room and when they opened the door, the couple were found nude in bed together.
The couple was taken into custody and taken to the nearest police station.
They were arrested and sentenced to a year in jail. After lengthy appeals the couple (who got married in the interim) got their sentences suspended and the woman was deported.
Dubai also has terrible human rights and LGBT rights records.
