UAE flogs drunk soldier returning from Afghan coalition force duty :: The Brussels Journal

Quote:

An Estonian soldier on his way home after having served with the coalition forces in Afghanistan, was arrested in the United Arab Emirates and will be flogged. Andrei Korol was accused of being drunk and harassing a local policewoman while he was in transit at Sharjah international airport where they “make your life easy.”
. . .
A court sentenced the Estonian sergeant major to a one month jail sentence for drinking and had him choose between either three months in jail or 80 lashes with a whip (which could be fatal). His lawyer says Korol chose flogging. He has already spent more than a month in a local jail.

Ditto what grapeshisha said about this:

Can you imagine what a hellhole the jail must be for him to risk his life against returning?

Several ex pats commenting to grapeshisha's post indicated this sort of thing was why they were leaving the UAE. Sharjah Airport does not "make your life easy" if you are trying to hire westerners.

Another commenter pointed out that the 80 lashes would not be administered so as to have potential be lethal. That's a relief, I'm sure.

Now if we could just stop some nationalities from beating others with a belt in European hotels without the benefit of a sharia okay we'd have some progress.