DUBAI: ANOTHER MAN JAILED FOR BEING GAY

A man whose partner fell to his death from a building in Dubai has been sentenced to a year in jail for being in a gay relationship.

According to The National, a 25-year-old Filipino fell from a fourth floor window. As he lay dying, he told a passer-by that his lover – named only as PH – had thrown him from the window.

Police questioned PH, a 24-year-old Belgian, who admitted that he and his partner had a fight but insisted that the deceased had locked himself in the kitchen and had thrown himself out the window.

The authorities decided that there was not sufficient evidence that PH had committed murder and instead referred him to a lower court where he was charged with having consensual gay sex.

He was found guilty and sentenced to a year in jail. He will be deported to Belgium after he has served his sentence.

In March, there were reports that around 30 men were arrested in a raid on a private gay party at the Shangri La Hotel in Dubai. Police denied the claims but local LGBT activists insisted that the incident had been covered up to avoid negative publicity.

A month later, Paul Brandt (27) from Scotland and Mickey Beley (40) from the Seychelles were jailed for three years after they were found guilty of having sex next to a petrol station in Dubai. The sentence was much higher than in similar cases of heterosexual people found guilty of public sex.

Homosexuality is illegal in the United Arab Emirates, which includes the emirates of Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Ras al-Khaimah, Umm Al Quwain, Ajman, Fujairah and Sharjah.

Possible punishment includes imprisonment, fines, deportation, and the death penalty as well as hormone treatment and chemical castration.