A British citizen who works as a flight attendant for the Dubai-based low-cost airline FlyDubai has been locked up in the notorious Al Barsha pre-trial detention centre for violating a ‘draconian’ and widesweeping cybercrime law that makes it illegal for anyone to share images that the government doesn’t want to be public.
In the aftermath of a March 7 Iranian drone strike on Dubai International Airport, the crew member is alleged to have shared a widely circulated image of the attack in a WhatsApp group chat with some of his coworkers.
The 25-year-old flight attendant, who moved to Dubai to pursue his dream of an aviation career in the Middle East, asked his colleagues in the group chat whether it was “safe to walk through the airport” following the attack.
One of his coworkers, however, shopped the crew member to the Dubai Police, who raided his apartment, searched his personal phone, and found images of the drone strike on his device.
The flight attendant was arrested under an incredibly broad cybercrime law enacted in 2021, which makes it illegal for anyone to share images online that could harm national security, damage the reputation of Dubai, or “undermine national unity.”
The March 7 attack on Dubai International Airport (DXB) occurred days into the Iran War and after authorities in the United Arab Emirates had warned that citizens, expats, and even tourists faced arrest and harsh penalties if they shared any images of Iranian attacks.
In this particular incident, a drone managed to evade air defense systems, exploding right next to the airport’s landmark Terminal 3 building, which is the hub of mega airline Emirates.
Authorities in Dubai have released few details of the attack, but it has since been reported that an Emirates Airbus A380 superjumbo and an Airbus A321 jet belonging to Saudia Airlines were damaged in the strike.
Despite the cybercrime warnings before this attack, a video of the drone exploding in close vicinity to the airport was shared on social media and quickly went viral.
It’s common for governments around the world to prohibit members of the public from sharing videos and photos of attacks that could show the location of air defense batteries, although the Dubai cybercrime law is far broader.
Radha Stirling, the chief executive of the British ‘Detained in Dubai’ charity, says several Britons have been arrested in the Emirate on suspicion of breaking the Dubai cybercrime laws after sharing videos of Iranian drone and missile attacks, including on the Fairmont Hotel.
Some are expected to be deported without charge, but Stirling warns that this ‘light touch’ approach will only apply to suspects arrested before the cybercrime warnings were publicized.
At the time of the March 7 attack, Emirates and FlyDubai were in the early days of rebuilding their schedules after airspace was shuttered due to the threat of Iranian kamikaze drone and missile attacks.
As of April 4, Flydubai has only rebuilt around 43% of its pre-war schedule, according to data from Flight Radar 24. In contrast, Emirates has restored around 74% of its pre-war schedule.
As well as the March 7 attack, Dubai International Airport was also targeted on the very first day of the war when an Iranian drone appeared to have struck the roof of Terminal 3, damaging the concourse and injuring at least four people.
On March 16, another Iranian drone struck one of the massive fuel tanks at the airport, sending large plumes of thick black smoke over the Dubai skyline. Air traffic was only halted for a few hours before flights resumed, even as firefighting efforts continued.
