It’s relief all around for the friends and family of the Singaporean pair who received a year in prison in Abu Dhabi for “cross-dressing” — they’ve since gotten their initial sentence reduced to a fine and deportation.
26-year-old Muhammad Fadli Bin Abdul Rahman and 37-year-old Nur Qistina Fitriah Ibrahim had their charged reduced on Sunday by the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, The National reported. They’ll have to fork out a Dh10,000 (SGD 3,688) fine and be deported back home to Singapore. According to the Facebook group campaigning for their release, the two are expected to be back by this Wednesday or Thursday.
The “Free Fad and Fifi” campaign managed to raise enough funds to cover the legal costs of getting the two proper representation in court for their appeal, and evidently, it’s money well spent.
Both of them had been arrested a day after they arrived in the United Arab Emirates capital, where Fadli — a freelance fashion photographer — was having a shoot. Qistina — a transgender woman in the process of transitioning — had accompanied him on the trip. They were arrested due to “public indecency”, as the UAE criminalizes cross-dressing, transgenderism and homosexuality. Eleven days since their arrest, they were sentenced, despite having no legal representation.
