Dinchi Lar, a female Nigerian citizen, was sentenced to one year in prison for tweeting a video that exposed the horrendous treatment she and other Africans were forced to endure at Dubai International Airport.
Ms Lar tweeted a picture and a now-deleted video on August 31 describing the foreign government’s mistreatment of Africans.
The Nigerian lady claimed she was detained for eight hours without explanation and chastised the Dubai government for mistreating her and other African nationals without an apology, despite the fact that she met all visa requirements and was not carrying contraband.
“I’m at Dubai International Airport, and myself and some tiger Nigerians with valid Visas have been held in a room for hours with no explanation or information on what we can do.” Please assist me. “There are more than 20 of us,” the Nigerian lady tweeted.
“The way Nigerians are treated in Dubai is wrong. When you arrive after meeting the requirements for a visa, which cost a lot of money, you are treated with contempt. “They are not given an explanation or allowed to ask questions when they decide to do whatever they want,” Ms Lar added.
The Nigerian woman had applied for a family visa and traveled with her sister, who was also detained at the airport alongside other Africans, in accordance with new Dubai visa regulations at the time.
Ms Lar was later allowed to enter the city, but when she attempted to leave for Nigeria on September 6, vindictive foreign authorities pounced, detaining her because of the viral tweet that portrayed their country negatively.
The video tweet, which clearly demonstrated the harsh treatment of Nigerian citizens at the hands of Dubai authorities, has since been deleted, presumably on the orders of foreign officials in the days following Ms Lar’s detention.
Despite deleting the video, the UAE government sentenced the Nigerian woman to one year in prison on October 12 without providing her with a fair trial or legal representation, according to Jerry Doubles, an expert on the subject.
It is unclear whether the Nigerian government is aware of Ms Lar’s sentencing because Abike Dabiri, Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), did not respond immediately to messages requesting comment on the matter.
Enquiry messages sent to Geoffrey Onyeama, the minister of foreign affairs, on his mobile phone went unanswered as of the time this report was filed.
Ms Lar’s family members have begun preparations to protest her sentence at the Dubai consulate in Abuja on Monday, and have created the hashtag #Justicefordinchi to raise awareness of her plight online.
