It's pretty clear this a just another of inflated, inaccurate and incomplete report [comment removed by moderator].

I've spent time in UAE, where I was able to live a perfectly normal life cluttered with the everyday sins of a western lifestyle. However I was aware that the freedoms I was allowed were conditional. I was expected to be discreet in my sinning, pay traffic fines on time, not write bad checks, and not cross any red lines - some of these not immediately apparent to visitors.

When a visitor causes trouble, crosses a red line, gets up an official's nose, or otherwise becomes undesirable then the authorities have a bewildering array of tools to evict or imprison him or her. Even voicing derogatory criticism of the country can get you in trouble ... and it seems possible that this was one of many offences this lady committed,

Perhaps she had had more han a single glass of wine. Who knows? But she was clearly belligerent and behaved stupidly.

Unfortunately, it’s not just this one story. It appears to happen so often that there is an NGO dedicated to providing resources to the victims, as evidenced in the article. And that was my point. It’s a pattern of mistreatment. Not sure why anyone is shocked that a despotic theocracy would act this way.

Getting into a so-called heated verbal altercation, while appearing drunk, against a US CBP employee over a matter of admission at a US airport of entry has sometimes resulted in arrest and detention behind bars for days and days. And as has becoming obvious to more, the US DHS does forcefully separate parents from young children at times and even hold them behind separate lock-ups. At least this mom at DXB was detained with her young daughter.

DXB passport control seems to be no worse than US passport control. The CBP, like some of its DXB equivalents, can be very hostile to being filmed by passengers.

Detention behind bars for those considered a high flight risk is standard governmental practice against many people in many foreign places when arrested for one or more criminal violations in a host country and waiting for a trial.
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Do you know what a theocracy is? Dubai is not a despotic theocracy. It’s despotic in ways, but it’s no theocracy.

It doesn’t necessarily matter where she is from, but she’s not born yesterday. But given her and her own family history, she should have known better how things can go with passport control and other governmental types in a position to be little Napoleons of sort. It’s not unique to DXB or the region.

Knowing what goes on with passport control across different countries is relevant to her and to this kind of situation, as it puts things in perspective for those considering this situation without jumping onto some kind of xenophobic bandwagon or other questionable agenda. Being hostile with passport control authorities when of questionable admissibility and obstructing in the performance of passport control authorities duties and filming it against the rules isn’t a sure fire way of avoiding trouble. Not in the US, not in the UAE, not in the UK, not in Iran. Maybe in Sweden.

She exceeded the 90 in 180-day limit for visa-free entry.

if she’s a working dentist in the UK, how does she have so much time to play tourist in Dubai so as to exceed that limit? Or was she also working illegally in the UAE?

Given she may also be an Iranian citizen — whether she claims it or not, Iranian citizenship can be hard for some to legally surrender — who knows if that was part of why she faced problems at DXB. While
DXB is still doing lots of business with Iran and Iranian nationals, encountering anti-Iranian Emiratis is part of the scene from time to time.