A British tourist is facing two years in prison in Dubai after filming Iranian missiles flying overhead, despite deleting the footage immediately when asked to do so by authorities.
The 60-year-old London man is among 21 people charged under UAE cybercrime laws that criminalise filming, sharing, or even commenting on content related to the ongoing conflict.
According to legal advocacy group Detained in Dubai, which is assisting the man’s family, the charges relate to “broadcasting, publishing, republishing or circulating rumours or provocative propaganda that could disturb public security.”
Detained in Dubai CEO Radha Stirling warned that the breadth of the law means a single post can ensnare multiple people.
“Under UAE cybercrime laws, the person who originally posts content can be charged, but so can anyone who reshares, reposts or comments on it — one video can quickly lead to dozens of people facing criminal charges,” she said, adding that foreigners risk being treated as national security suspects “before the facts are even clarified.”
A Gulf-wide crackdown
The UAE’s move is part of a coordinated regional effort to control the flow of information as Iranian strikes continue. Qatar has detained more than 300 people of various nationalities for filming and circulating footage of strike sites, Bahrain arrested four individuals for broadcasting similar material, and Saudi Arabia issued parallel warnings to residents.
In Dubai itself, the distance between official narrative and on-the-ground reality has grown difficult to ignore. Authorities denied any incident had occurred at Dubai International Airport even as drone footage of a strike near the terminal circulated widely online, while the Dubai Media Office dismissed early images of damage as outdated material being spread to stoke fear, the Daily Mail reported.
Yet, footage showed that the airport sustained damage, two drones struck a terminal, and the Fairmont Hotel on Palm Jumeirah was hit, with a string of major airlines cancelling flights to the region for weeks.
The influencer machine
Authorities have leaned partly on Dubai’s influencer ecosystem to fill the information vacuum, with content creators posting near-identical tributes to UAE ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, prompting widespread accusations of paid government propaganda that several have denied.
British influencer Ben Moss told the Daily Mail he was more worried about the legal consequences of a wrong post than about the conflict itself. “I’m far more scared of being fined or jailed for posting the wrong content than I am of the Iranian missiles and drones,” he said.
‘Dubai is finished’
Headteacher John Trudinger, a 16-year Dubai resident, told The Guardian that most of his UK teaching staff were “deeply traumatised” and had fled, adding they would not be returning.
Taxi driver Zain Anwar, whose car was destroyed in a missile strike, also told The Guardian he no longer wanted to remain. “There is no business, we are earning nothing since this war, and I don’t see the tourism coming back,” he said. “Everybody knows that Dubai is finished.”
Western banks, including Standard Chartered and Citi, evacuated staff from their offices after Iran issued threats identifying them as potential targets.
