Wearing shorts in Dubai a risky business?
• An odd news report was published by 7 Days on 10 April 2011 about the Filipino stand-up comedian Jonathan Garcia, otherwise known as Chokoleit, who was apparently detained by Dubai Police for 5 hours, and missed his flight out of Dubai as a result, for wearing shorts (or shorts that were too short perhaps) on 02 April 2011. He was quoted in the report as saying “My advice to visitors to the UAE is that ignorance of the law is no excuse for anyone. I was on the way to do some shopping before my flight home when my legs were sighted by the police.” • It sounds odd because as any resident or tourist knows, men (or women) wearing shorts is hardly an uncommon sight in Dubai. And even very short shorts, although probably against the Dubai Decency Laws, usually seems to be tolerated anyway.
