Dubai’s Attorney General has taken the unusual step of revealing details about the case of a British mother who claimed she was jailed in the UAE emirate, along with her four-year-old daughter, after she drank a complimentary glass of wine on an Emirates flight.
The case attracted media attention around the world; particularly in Britain. See: Mother released after Emirates glass-of-wine fiasco. Dubai, however, claims the woman, Dr Ellie Holman, 44, was “abusive” and that she “illegally filmed” airport staff.
Holman, a dentist who lives in southern England but is originally from Sweden, says she and daughter were dumped in a “baking hot and foul-smelling jail” in Dubai because consuming alcohol in the strict Arab state is illegal and she had a glass of wine on the flight.
Dubai’s Attorney General, Essam Al Humaidan, says Holman was deported not for drinking wine but for taking pictures of an immigration officer during an argument at Dubai International Airport.
Holman arrived on an Emirates flight from London Gatwick on 13 July 2018.
According to a statement and story carried by The National, a publication based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), she was travelling on a Swedish passport, which immigration officials found had expired a month earlier, on 10 June.
Dubai’s Attorney General says Holman then produced an Iranian passport. She was told that qualified her for a temporary visa that allowed a 96-hour stay, shorter than she had planned.
According to the Attorney General’s statement, Holman then “refused angrily to the additional payment fees that the process would require and proceeded to verbally insult the immigration officer and take photos of the officer via her phone”.
The attorney general said initial charges were issued against Holman for profanity and photographing a government official at a border crossing, which is a restricted area. Most airports ban photographing or filming airport officials or immigration entry points, the statement pointed out.
According to Dubai, stories in British media about Holman’s detention relating to having a glass of wine on her Emirates flight to Dubai were incorrect because that is “not an offence nor a reason for her detention”.
The Attorney General denied claims Holman and her daughter were not looked after, saying: “The woman and her child remained together in the airport security office for less than 24 hours while services were provided to them, taking into full account and consideration of her four-year-old daughter.”
The Attorney General confirmed prosecutors had since dropped the charges “and deported the Swedish national immediately”.
The National said Holman, who had been to the UAE many times before, had come to Dubai for five days to visit friends.
Britain’s Sun said Holman regularly flew over to Dubai for weeks at a time to carry out beauty procedures such as Botox.
Online sites refer to Dr Ellie Holman Aesthetics in Sevenoaks, Kent, saying: “All Botox and filler treatments are administered by Dr Ellie Holman (DDS) a qualified dental surgeon and member of the General Dental Council with over 13 years experience in aesthetic medicine.”
Written by Peter Needham
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