Dubai: Man jailed for gay relationship after partner dies in window fall
A 24-year-old man in Dubai has been sentenced to a year in prison and subsequent deportation after his gay relationship was discovered when his partner fell from a window.
According to Emirates’ newspaper the National, the man’s lover had fallen to the ground from a fourth floor window and suffered injuries to which he was to succumb in hospital.
The Filipino man died last September after telling a passer-by who came to his aid that he had been thrown from the window by his partner, a 24-year-old Belgian man.
But the Belgian told police his partner had thrown himself out of the window having locked himself in the kitchen after an argument.
Rather than pursue a murder charge, the case was referred to the Dubai Misdemeanour Court, which sentenced the Belgian man to a year in prison for having had a gay relationship with the deceased man.
Article 177 of Dubai’s Penal Code imposes imprisonment of up to 10 years for consensual gay sex.
