Mum Reportedly Faces Jail in Dubai Due to an Old Facebook Post about Her Ex-Husband's New Wife

A British mother faces two years in jail in Dubai and a $ 65,000 fine for calling her ex-husband "idiot" and "riding" his new wife on Facebook.

Laleh Shahravesh, a 55-year-old woman from Richmond, London, was arrested in the United Arab Emirates last month while being with her 14-year-old daughter, Paris, trying to attend her ex's funeral.

She was arrested for two Facebook comments written in 2016, after her ex-husband, Pedro, remarried, according to the activist group Detained in Dubai.

Laleh was in Britain when she published the comments, and her ex-husband, who died of a heart attack on March 3, was already living in Dubai with his new partner.

In Dubai, cybercrime laws imply that an old social media status written by the person before visiting the country can be subject to fines and penalties. According to Detained in Dubai, Shahravesh's passport was confiscated, and her daughter had to return home alone, and would now be staying with friends.

In a statement made through the organization, she said that "I am not allowed to leave Dubai, I went to court only once, and I was not allowed to defend myself, and then to a police station, where we were waiting 12 hours, without any progress. "

She added, "I'm terrified, I can not sleep or eat, I've gone down two sizes because of stress, and my daughter falls asleep crying every night, we're very close, especially since her father left us, we just had each other. it breaks the heart to be far from her."

Shahravesh was married for more than 18 years to Pedro Manuel Coreia Dos Santos, a Portugal citizen. Together they had a daughter, Paris.

They lived in Dubai for 8 months while he worked at HSBC, before Shahravesh returned to London in 2016 with her daughter. Her husband had to join them in the UK when his employment relationship with HSBC ended, but instead, Laleh received an envelope with the divorce papers awaiting her signature.

A few months later, the mother found on Facebook photos of her husband's wedding with a 42-year-old woman from Tunisia.

She showed her frustration with two posts on Facebook, saying "I hope you end up underground, you idiot, damn you, you left me for this horse," and "you married a horse, you idiot."

Shahravesh alleges losing her job, not being able to pay the rent of the apartment she lives in with her daughter, and having more than $ 6,500 in debts with her family as a result of her forced stay in Dubai.

In another shocking case, a Russian model is supposedly in custody after having jumped from the sixth floor of a Dubai hotel trying to escape from an alleged rapist.

Recently, in Dubai, Ekaterina Stetsyuk, 22, allegedly broke her spine after having rejected the advances of an American businessman who wanted to have sex with her.

Stetsyuk told local media that she was threatened with a knife by the alleged aggressor, which led her to jump out of a window to escape