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>Another joke Dr. Kharrat tweeted urged the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen to attack Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, as reported by French newspaper L’Orient Le Jour.

>Another joke Dr. Kharrat tweeted urged the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen to attack Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, as reported by French newspaper L’Orient Le Jour. I'm gonna be honest how can anyone actually think tweeting that is a good idea.

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asadlionpk 5y ago
Agreed. Wouldn't US or France do the same if someone publicly suggested similar violence for WTC or Eiffel?
- bpodgursky 5y ago
  No (in the US). You'd have your visa revoked and be deported in a heartbeat, but you would not be charged or disappeared.
  - asadlionpk 5y ago
    deported to guantanamo?
    - kjs3 5y ago
      By all means provide us with the name of any individual who was sent to Gitmo for a tweet.
  - throwawayffffas 5y ago
    I am pretty sure in case they thought you were actually connected to actual terrorists you would be with a bag over your head and on your way to god knows where before you could say extraordinary rendition. The fact is countries detain people all the time for a variety of reasons. I am not saying it's right, it just is. In general it's a bad plan to put yourself in the hands of your opponents, especially if they are not very big on human rights and the rule of law. Hostage diplomacy is very much a thing[1]. In general though I would think for most westerners it would be rather safe to visit the UAE, I think it's fairly aligned to the west and unlikely to detain people just to make a fuss. [1] https://tnsr.org/2021/11/caught-between-giants-hostage-diplomacy-and-negotiation-strategy-for-middle-powers/ https://tnsr.org/2021/11/caught-between-giants-hostage-diplo...
  - cycomanic 5y ago
    No mind you the US disappeared people for much less, be it in Guantanamo or some of the black ops prison they had all over the place in "collaborating countries" after 9/11. There is a difference in scale and directness to this in UAE though.
    - bpodgursky 5y ago
      Uh no the US did not disappear people for "much less" than a tweet I'm by no means apologizing for unethical and illegal extraordinary renditions, which were unacceptable, but that is a ridiculous claim.
- livinginfear 5y ago
  No. France did nothing when thousands of people celebrated Notre Dame burning. Throughout the Trump presidency making threats against the president was pretty much the bread and butter of Twitter.
  - mardifoufs 5y ago
    They did arrest some people who cheered for the beheading of the high-school teacher though IIRC. France has pretty harsh (and often used) laws regulating speech, and they are ambiguous enough that they can be used pretty broadly. Just an example: >Thousands of people are convicted every year for “contempt of public officials”, a vaguely defined criminal offence that law enforcement and judicial authorities have applied in massive numbers to silence peaceful dissent. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/11/france-is-not-the-free-speech-champion-it-says-it-is/ https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/11/france-is-not...
  - sonicggg 5y ago
    Yeah, France is probably not a good example. They never had much backbone there. In 10 years, Paris may as well be under Sharia law.
  - rat9988 5y ago
    This is utterly wrong.
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someotherperson 5y ago
From https://today.lorientlejour.com/article/1295901/lebanese-doctor-arrested-in-abu-dhabi-seemingly-over-tweets-deemed-offensive-to-the-emiratis.html https://today.lorientlejour.com/article/1295901/lebanese-doc... > “The talk about this tweet is fake news,” a source close to the gynecologist and an MP of the Free Patriotic Movement, to which Kharrat is allegedly close, told L’Orient-Le Jour on condition of anonymity. > He claimed that this tweet appeared after Kharrat’s arrest, saying that it was not published on the doctor’s personal account, but on that of an UAE national It appears that the original tweet was faked.

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asadlionpk 5y ago

Agreed. Wouldn't US or France do the same if someone publicly suggested similar violence for WTC or Eiffel?

bpodgursky 5y ago
No (in the US). You'd have your visa revoked and be deported in a heartbeat, but you would not be charged or disappeared.
- asadlionpk 5y ago
  deported to guantanamo?
  - kjs3 5y ago
    By all means provide us with the name of any individual who was sent to Gitmo for a tweet.
- throwawayffffas 5y ago
  I am pretty sure in case they thought you were actually connected to actual terrorists you would be with a bag over your head and on your way to god knows where before you could say extraordinary rendition. The fact is countries detain people all the time for a variety of reasons. I am not saying it's right, it just is. In general it's a bad plan to put yourself in the hands of your opponents, especially if they are not very big on human rights and the rule of law. Hostage diplomacy is very much a thing[1]. In general though I would think for most westerners it would be rather safe to visit the UAE, I think it's fairly aligned to the west and unlikely to detain people just to make a fuss. [1] https://tnsr.org/2021/11/caught-between-giants-hostage-diplomacy-and-negotiation-strategy-for-middle-powers/ https://tnsr.org/2021/11/caught-between-giants-hostage-diplo...
- cycomanic 5y ago
  No mind you the US disappeared people for much less, be it in Guantanamo or some of the black ops prison they had all over the place in "collaborating countries" after 9/11. There is a difference in scale and directness to this in UAE though.
  - bpodgursky 5y ago
    Uh no the US did not disappear people for "much less" than a tweet I'm by no means apologizing for unethical and illegal extraordinary renditions, which were unacceptable, but that is a ridiculous claim.
livinginfear 5y ago
No. France did nothing when thousands of people celebrated Notre Dame burning. Throughout the Trump presidency making threats against the president was pretty much the bread and butter of Twitter.
- mardifoufs 5y ago
  They did arrest some people who cheered for the beheading of the high-school teacher though IIRC. France has pretty harsh (and often used) laws regulating speech, and they are ambiguous enough that they can be used pretty broadly. Just an example: >Thousands of people are convicted every year for “contempt of public officials”, a vaguely defined criminal offence that law enforcement and judicial authorities have applied in massive numbers to silence peaceful dissent. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/11/france-is-not-the-free-speech-champion-it-says-it-is/ https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/11/france-is-not...
- sonicggg 5y ago
  Yeah, France is probably not a good example. They never had much backbone there. In 10 years, Paris may as well be under Sharia law.
- rat9988 5y ago
  This is utterly wrong.

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someotherperson 5y ago

From https://today.lorientlejour.com/article/1295901/lebanese-doctor-arrested-in-abu-dhabi-seemingly-over-tweets-deemed-offensive-to-the-emiratis.html https://today.lorientlejour.com/article/1295901/lebanese-doc... > “The talk about this tweet is fake news,” a source close to the gynecologist and an MP of the Free Patriotic Movement, to which Kharrat is allegedly close, told L’Orient-Le Jour on condition of anonymity. > He claimed that this tweet appeared after Kharrat’s arrest, saying that it was not published on the doctor’s personal account, but on that of an UAE national It appears that the original tweet was faked.