Upload a Spoof Video, Go To Jail (In Dubai)

Taco Cowboy writes with news, as reported by the BBC, that eight people have been imprisoned in Dubai for creating a spoof video about youth culture in that country, for which they were accused of acting "with the intent of inciting to actions, or publishing or disseminating any information, news, caricatures, or other images liable to endanger state security and its higher interests or infringe on the public order." "The video, posted to YouTube, was a gentle satire on young men in the Satwa residential suburb of Dubai who adopt a 'gangsta' pose despite living the sedate, prosperous lifestyle more usually associated with Dubai residents."

Comments

It reminds me of the US

[mrchaotica]

As an American, it's hard to criticize Dubai when kids in the US getting expelled from school and/or arrested over the content of their jokes or writing assignments.

Re:It reminds me of the US

[Baloroth]

As an American, it's hard to criticize Dubai when kids in the US getting expelled from school and/or arrested over the content of their jokes or writing assignments.

No, it's still very easy to criticize. Just make sure you criticize everyone who acts like that.

Re:It reminds me of the US

[Anonymous Coward]

That is something good to point out. As a US citizen, part of our duty is to bring stuff about a kid getting expelled for a pop-tart eaten in an "L" shape and let it be known as unacceptable.

Injustice has no borders. It is just as wrong to toss some kids in the UAE in jail for showing off some ballin' as it is to have a kid expelled for something stated on Facebook criticizing a teacher or admin.

Re:It reminds me of the US

[jklovanc]

There is a major difference between a couple of days off school and 8 months in prison and a permanent criminal record. Yes there have been some questionable arrests but I have yet to see convictions and prison sentences in the US.

Any country that can not take a little criticism of their youth really needs to take a hard look at themselves. The only way to change bad things is to first admit they are happening.

Re:It reminds me of the US

[AK Marc]

Having moved out of the US, I'm surprised at the lack of punishment for criminals. In the US, a criminal conviction is often a lifetime sentence, jobs, houses, and such are harder to come by. But in other parts of the globe, a prison sentence is "time served" and when you are out, you are treated like a regular person, so long as the criminal conviction isn't about something you are trying to do (i.e. a conviction for sexual assault of a minor or whatever will hurt your chances of being an elementary school teacher, but probably not a university teacher, and fraud conviction will hurt your chances of being CFO, but probably not COO).

So don't generalize the US "a criminal conviction is a life-long sentence" attitude to the rest of the world. It might not apply.

They have a good reason

[paiute]

These guys have to keep a paranoid, choking control on the people. Oil-filthy-rich nations in the region have to be praying that no organization whose initials are AQ would have the brilliant idea to take them over instead of wasting their time bombing malls and the streets outside embassies. I mean, how much effort would it take to overthrow Dubai? About as much as it would take to assume control of the Cleveland Rotary Club, maybe?

Re:They have a good reason

[AK Marc]

Don't they have more working immigrants than citizens now? If there were unrest, they'd have no way to keep control. It's more like Apartheid than anything else there. There are two classes, Citizens, and others. And the citizens live large (and silly) while the others do all the real work to keep it going.

Re:They have a good reason

[Anonymous Coward]

well, the way they keep control is...

guns. they don't buy guns to fight a war against iran or whoever. at least in apartheid they let the oppressed fuck with each other as they liked..

posting anon because a big part of the problem is the western companies who do the white collar work so even posting shit about dubai could get shit on someone due to that. but the fucks would be in SO BIG FUCKING DOODOO if they were put under even half as bad sanctions as south africa were - because they don't know even how to do the white collar work! they don't know how to keep the plumbing going, they don't know how to balance the books. they don't know shit and can't do shit - and live in a fucking sand castle with their heads up their arses.

their heads are so far up their asses though that they're getting bled for their cash pretty damn fucking quick. Artificial Islands? yeah, wasn't a dubai company building them. wasn't dubai workers paid for doing it, wasn't dubai equipment used for it and what do they have to show for it? an artifical island project no sane country would have undertaken. is it dubai companies turning metal into 1000% value of the materials and selling it to dubai fucks? hell no.

in short: don't go to dubai as a tourist. don't go to dubai to work. just boycott them.

they're trying to buy the country into being something that it isn't. they're trying to buy into having a domestic industry without anyone who is a "citizen" actually doing any work, so they're just renting that image from others and seemingly can't even grasp that if they want to be germans they HAVE TO FUCKING WORK or give the germans and nepalese working there citizenship so that they can become the country. enforcing "virtue" isn't an industry and frankly that arm of the police is doing a fucking shitty job of enforcing a decent set of ethics.....

Re:They have a good reason

[tibman]

Kuwait was like that. The entire workforce was foreigners. BestBuys,Starbucks, and mansions in the middle of the desert. I saw several totaled luxury SUVs sitting on the side of highways. Guessing there was a wreck and instead of getting it repaired or dealing with it they just bought another. Not knocking them, just my observations.

Re:They have a good reason

[Whorhay]

I wouldn't go so far as to say that it couldn't happen but the UAE is ruled by a Monarchy. That is a real Monarchy, not the celebrity heads of state that the UK has. There is a king and his word is law, his family owns the biggest businesses, commands the military and picks and chooses economic winners and losers. The UAE is to poor third world countries what the USA is to Mexico and various other poor countries of the Americas. The UAE hasn't had much terrorist hostilities because a previous king threatened to expel and permanently bar entry to everyone of any nation who shared nationality with any terrorist carrying out an attack on their soil. For terrorist organizations that rely on the good will or at least passive acceptance of the people at large in their regions this is simply not worth the gamble.

On top of all that the UAE is a play ground for the rich in that part of the world and much of AQ's funding comes from those people. Turning the country into another war zone would be contrary to AQ's interests financially. To some the UAE may look like a tempting bit of honey comb but in reality it is a well guarded hornets nest.

defaming the UAE society's image abroad

[Anonymous Coward]

A state security court found them guilty of "defaming the UAE society's image abroad", according to the state-owned newspaper, The National.

Does anyone else find it funny that this arrest is "defaming the UAE society's image abroad" much more than the video ever would?

Streisand effect ?

[Alain Williams]

I would never have seen this video if they had not been tried in a kangaroo court. What makes Dubai a laughing stock, the video or the prison sentences ?

Dubai jails self for creating bad press for Dubai

[WaffleMonster]

Dubai's reaction generated more bad press for themselves and significantly enhanced viewership of a YouTube video nobody should waste their time watching...

Keep up the good work Dubai.

Re:Clean your own house first

[AK Marc]

I've complained about my house first. I just can't do anything about it. So I'm not allowed to criticize anyone doing wrong until the rest of the US wakes up and joins me in criticizing the USA? You sound like an anti-speech censor, not a voice of reason and moderation.

Re:Clean your own house first

[WaffleMonster]

Take care of your own house first before you complain about the actions of your neighbors.

Why does each task need to be executed sequentially rather than concurrently? Is there a hidden dependency forbidding concurrent execution?

The USA has plenty to feel guilty about. Stories like this tend to emphasize injustices elsewhere in the world, and IGNORE that these same injustices may be happening at home, but are under-reported.

Smells like "Buuut Mommmmy ... Jonny did it toooo"

Halliburton

[Princeofcups]

No wonder Cheney moved Halliburton to Dubai. After 8 years in office, this is what he always wanted the US to be.

Re:God damn!

[murdocj]

I wondered how long it would take to morph a discussion on how Dubai suppresses speech into "USA Evil!!!!" Congratulations!

Re:God damn!

[vinehair]

Single-issue poster somehow manages to make a thread about Dubai, about the USA and Obama. Go away.

The UAE is not an open society

[bunyip]

Don't ever confuse Dubai with an open and modern society. It's a monarchy that needs to hold onto power and does not toerate criticism or free speech of any kind. They walk a fine line between the glamour of business, yet holding onto traditional values and conservatism.

It's also illegal to kiss in public, even for a married couple. People have been arrested, imprisoned and deported for such indecency.

Re:The UAE is not an open society

[Anonymous Coward]

such indecency!

I hear the males over there are so utterly without any form of willpower that so much as seeing any display of affection, or even the slightest hint of female flesh, that they are completely unable to hold themselves back from from raping the female to within an inch of her life. Once that inch is reached, their society murders her for the crime of being raped. Its all her fault remember.

This is why females have to hide under a burka, so as not to provide even the slightest hint of femininity, as so much as seeing a thigh or a abdomen is enough to turn the males into feral dogs utterly unable to hold themselves back from the desire to rape a woman.

Fucking barbarians.

Re:God damn!

[TsuruchiBrian]

Well considering both the first time they tried to kill him, he was in a car with members of al-Qaeda (2 of which were killed), and when they actually killed him, he was a in a car with 3 al-Qaeda members, I wouldn't say there was "no evidence at all" that he was a terrorist.

I agree that it is possible he was innocent. I agree that killing him might have been a violation of the constitution. I agree that maybe we shouldn't be killing people in other countries. But I don't think there is 0 evidence Al Awlaki was a terrorist. I am not saying that this is conclusive evidence or even good evidence. I am saying that it is enough evidence to suggest that he *might* have been working with al-Qaeda to some extent.

Re:God damn!

[anagama]

Here's a kid whose father was also an AQ ^w wedding participant:

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/19/the-aftermath-of-drone-strikes-on-a-wedding-convoy-in-yemen/?_r=0

I can't understand why anyone would believe a single word spoken by the the Executive branch, the NSA -- any of them. They're just a bunch self-serving liars who murder people. Why would you believe them at all??

Satire?

[fahrbot-bot]

a gentle satire on young men in the Satwa residential suburb of Dubai who adopt a 'gangsta' pose despite living the sedate, prosperous lifestyle

This could apply to just about any Rap / Hip hop artist - or Miley Cyrus. Just sayin' ...

Maybe we need a new genre - Suburban Gangsta - with minivans and shit.

I don't think you're aware how bad it's getting

[Rujiel]

for poor inner city kids in this country. Several states have enacted laws that more or less allow for arresting teens because they are deemed uncooperative by a teacher. google the school to prison pipeline and see for yourself.

Re:God damn!

[Mashiki]

At least in Dubai, they don't murder people with drones for posting videos on youtube like Obama did with Al Awlaki.

Right. They'll just out-right execute them, or ship them back to their home country. And if that home country happens to be a muslim country, the chances of them getting a very quick, fast, and painful show trial with an execution at the end is pretty high. And if you happen to be female, you can expect repeated rapes in there before they kill you...should you be so lucky. Sometimes they'll let them go after raping the women for a few weeks.

Re:God damn!

[TsuruchiBrian]

I can't understand why anyone would believe a single word spoken by the the Executive branch, the NSA -- any of them. They're just a bunch self-serving liars who murder people. Why would you believe them at all??

Obviously because I don't believe the US government is "just a bunch of self-serving liars who murder people".

Maybe you don't think the us government is any better than Al-Qaeda or the Nazis or the Spanish Inquisition, or whatever is the most evil organization in human history, and that has led you to this conclusion. I just don't agree with this premise.

I think our government has both good and bad aspects to it. (i.e. it's not perfect). I don't think the people at the top are ruthless killers who enjoy seeing dead children. I think there are *some* bad people in the government who profit at the expense of other, and there are also incompetent people who cause bad things to happen unintentionally, but there are also people who are doing a good job.

Some people like to see everything in black and white, but when things aren't black and white, that kind of thinking doesn't really lead to anything useful.

Re:God damn!

[rsilvergun]

My understanding is America is a large part of what made the Middle East so extreme. We meddled in their politics to keep Communism from spreading and ended up putting some really awful people in power. Our relentless thirst for cheap oil doesn't help matters much either.