KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 — An American expatriate has been arrested in the United Arab Emirates after sending a strongly-worded unflattering email to her ex-boyfriend.
According to The Independent, the US embassy confirmed the incident and was told that Melissa McBurnie had been detained in Abu Dhabi after being accused of slander.
It was also reported that McBurnie messaged her former boyfriend to tell him to stop sending pornographic images of himself and sexually explicit texts to her.
She then lashed out in the message to the Egyptian national warning him to stay away from her.
McBurnie’s accuser then reportedly filed a police report accusing her of demeaning him in an email.
Following the police report, the 57-year-old mother-of-one from California has had her passport confiscated and is prohibited from leaving the country for the next three months while she awaits a court hearing.
McBurnie, who reportedly worked as a personal assistant to Hollywood actor Rob Lowe, country music star John Denver and late comedian Joan Rivers, could be jailed for up to two years for the cybercrime charges.
Speaking to Daily Mail UK, McBurnie alleged that upon her arrest she was kept for two hours and quizzed by police who waved handcuffs in her face in an attempt to intimate her.
She was granted bail after handing over $1,300 (RM5,443).
She expressed her fears over the nightmare ordeal and how it feels like when her voice is not being heard.
McBurnie got into a relationship with a married Egyptian man who has been living in UAE for the past 20 years.
She also alleged that she became the victim of a campaign of harassment and cyberbullying by her former boyfriend.
McBurnie is currently being supported by a non-governmental organisation Detained in Dubai that offer legal advice and help to tourists who fall foul of UAE’s laws.
According to the organisation’s chief executive officer Radha Stirlling, who has launched a campaign for McBurnie on their website, he raised his concerns about UAE’s laws when it comes to punishing women.
“The UAE has a dismal history of punishing women who are victimised by men, whether by imprisoning women who have been sexually assaulted, or as in this case, criminalising a woman’s attempt to defend herself against slander, defamation, and the most malicious violation of her privacy imaginable,” said Stirlling in a statement.
Stirlling also warned that penalties under the UAE’s cybercrime laws are severe and most travellers are unaware they are in violation of several laws the moment they set foot in the UAE.
