In the UAE and as per strict islamic rule, sex outside of marriage is illegal with prison sentences being given to those who flout this law; Think the English 'Exec' who has been in the papers for improper behaviour with an Irish man, or the infamous 'Sex on the Beach Couple' who were both sentenced despite having married to reduce their sentence following arrest for 'doing-the-act' after being asked to stop.
Even though, the law dictates that hotels should only accept people who are married to stay in them, for those of us with a more liberal western view that travel with partners prior to marriage, the cohabitation law is openly ignored, meaning unmarried couples are accepted.
Whilst it was not the case with Ian and I (we had to get our marriage certificate attested prior to my obtaining a residence permit as he was 'vouching' for me), it is not unuseal for westerners to bring out their prospective other halves to live in the UAE with them. They just obtain work o their own for example prior to moving, so their visa is theirs.
For
ex-pats, on talking to people who deal with the law in relation to
immigration, getting married is necessary from a longer term
prospective. Without having an attested marriage certificate, it is
impossible to procure a bank account if travelling on a family/dependents visa. Primarily though, should a women fall
pregnant, there is the threat, no matter how slim (I have found no known cases that this has been excercised), that she could
face jail on having the baby as the baby was conceived through sex
outside of marriage.
This law does however mean that wives who have been wronged have a rock solid form of revenge. It would be incorrect to say the papers are full of stories, but I have read in the papers, on an almost weekly basis, that wives report their husbands and mistresses to the police who are then imprisoned. A Woman wronged and all that....
The only unfair part of this is the fact that the 'wronged' woman, more often than not, recinds the court action against her husband, but it continues against the mistress. The question is, would this be a big enough shock to the man so that it is not repeated, or would he think that he could get away with it again...?
Unfortuantely, the papers here only report on cases which are ongoing, giving details of the case, but never the outcome. For example, there was a woman who, whilst pregnant with their second child, caught her husband 'in-fligrante' with another woman. She pressed charges, but later in the dock, dropped the ones in realtion to her husband so he was let off. The woman continued the charges against the mistress, but the article did not, and the papers will not, say what happened to her.
Is this fair? I mean, yes it would hurt immensly to be put in this position, but surely you would have to be a certain type of person to put a woman behind bars for any period of time, despite how tempting? Would I or any one else ever want to be that person??
Either way, I pray no one I know is ever put in the position to have to find out.
The only unfair part of this is the fact that the 'wronged' woman, more often than not, recinds the court action against her husband, but it continues against the mistress. The question is, would this be a big enough shock to the man so that it is not repeated, or would he think that he could get away with it again...?
Unfortuantely, the papers here only report on cases which are ongoing, giving details of the case, but never the outcome. For example, there was a woman who, whilst pregnant with their second child, caught her husband 'in-fligrante' with another woman. She pressed charges, but later in the dock, dropped the ones in realtion to her husband so he was let off. The woman continued the charges against the mistress, but the article did not, and the papers will not, say what happened to her.
Is this fair? I mean, yes it would hurt immensly to be put in this position, but surely you would have to be a certain type of person to put a woman behind bars for any period of time, despite how tempting? Would I or any one else ever want to be that person??
Either way, I pray no one I know is ever put in the position to have to find out.
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