Singapore pair to return from Abu Dhabi as sentences cut
Reuters file photo
SINGAPORE — Two Singaporeans who were arrested in Abu Dhabi and sentenced to a year’s jail earlier this month for wearing women’s clothes in public have had their sentences reduced.
The pair will instead face a fine of Dh10,000 (S$3,700) and deportation by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities, according to a report on Sunday by Middle Eastern newspaper The National.
TODAY understands that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) is facilitating their deportation back home.
Ms Nur Qistina Fitriah Ibrahim, 37, a transgender woman and her friend, 26-year-old freelance fashion photographer Muhammad Fadli Bin Abdul Rahman, were arrested in Abu Dhabi earlier this month.
They were sentenced to a year’s jail on Aug 21 after police had stopped them at a shopping mall on Aug 9 in the UAE capital.
The UAE considers cross-dressing, being transgender and homosexuality as crimes.
At the time of his arrest, Mr Fadli was allegedly wearing a white T-shirt, a bow tie and earrings.
According to media reports, Ms Qistina, a transgender person, has not undergone a sex-change operation, although she has legally changed her name to that of a woman.
Officials from the Singapore Embassy in Abu Dhabi had earlier met the duo four times “to ensure their continued well-being while in custody”, an MFA spokesman said in a statement last Friday.
The first meeting took place on Aug 10, when the embassy was informed of the case, and the most recent one was on Aug 23, the ministry added.
The embassy’s representatives had also attended the duo’s bail hearing on Thursday.
The ministry has remained tight-lipped about when the duo will be heading back to Singapore.
However, an administrator of the Facebook group “Free Fad and Fifi” — which was formed to raise legal funds for the duo — shared in a post that “we can expect them back by Wednesday (or) Thursday”
