DUBAI: An appeals court in Dubai on Tuesday suspended three-month jail terms against two Britons convicted of having sex on the beach in the booming Gulf emirate but ordered them to leave the country. Michelle Palmer, 37, and Vince Acors, 34, who have been on bail during their trial, were not in court when the verdict was issued. Their lawyer Hassan Matar said the three-month prison sentence had been suspended by the court but that the pair would now be deported. The two were found guilty in October of having sex in a public place and drinking alcohol in a highly publicised case in the emirate, which despite its pro-Western outlook still adheres to certain strict Islamic rules and bans sex out of wedlock. Palmer and Acors denied charges of having sex in public and committing public indecency, but admitted to being under the influence of alcohol when they were caught on Dubai's Jumeirah public beach in July after meeting at a champagne brunch in a five-star hotel. In addition to the jail sentence and deportation, they were each fined 1,000 dirhams ($270) for drinking alcohol. Both had remained free on bail during the trial. "The verdict concerning their expulsion remains valid," Matar said. "There are only a few routine procedures to complete for their departure." At the opening of their trial in August, Palmer denied having sex with Acors, saying they were simply "kissing and hugging." Matar has insisted that the results of a medical test on Palmer just hours after they were arrested on July 5 showed "she had not engaged in recent sexual intercourse," while the medical report for Acors was inconclusive. Palmer was sacked from her job as a publishing executive in the UAE following the case, while Acors was visiting Dubai at the time. The case turned the spotlight on the lifestyle of the 120,000-plus British residents of the UAE, around 100,000 of whom live in Dubai, a bustling city state which hosts hundreds of thousands of Western residents and tourists.
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
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