UAE Govt jails Nigerian woman for tweeting how Nigerians were illegally detained in Dubai

A Nigerian woman who goes by the Twitter handle @dunchichi has been given a one-year prison sentence by the government of the United Arab Emirates for a social media post that detailed how some Nigerians were unjustly held at Dubai International Airport.

On August 31, @dunchichi shared a post on Twitter about how, despite having a legal visa, she and several Nigerians were arrested.

She wrote: "I'm at Dubai international airport and myself and some tiger Nigerians with valid Visas are being held in a room hours after arriving with no explain and no information on what we can do. Please help me. There's more than 20 of us."

However, a different user, @jerrydoubles, who claimed to be a relative of hers, revealed on Saturday that @dunchichi had been imprisoned for a crime connected to her prior post in Dubai.

He said, "It is sad and regrettably heartrending to tell you all that @dunchichi was sentenced on 12th Oct 22, to 1yr in jail in Dubai. Her family are devastated and Nigeria didn't save her."

"Her sentence came from the backdrop that she got a family visa to travel. But in fact, she was there with her sister. It got messy & complicated, she was released on arrival after being detained for several hours, only to be sentenced when she was returning to Nigeria.

"They are capitalising on the fact that she made a video then posted them on her Twitter timeline to narrate the ordeal. They said it's cybercrime in their country. She went ahead to delete it. Still, that didn't soften them. Now she is jailed #justicefordinci."

He also said that her family was preparing to demonstrate against her conviction at the Dubai consulate office in Abuja.

His tweet addded: "If you stay in Abuja or know someone who does and would love to join us."

It is sad and regrettably heartrending to tell you all that @dunchichi was sentenced on 12th Oct 22, to 1yr in jail in Dubai. Her family are devastated and Nigeria didn't save her. ????
Cc @nidcom_gov @DavidHundeyin @FS_Yusuf_ @SavvyRinu @mrmacaronii @MobilePunch @daily_trust RT. https://t.co/FHdPULSOzY

— The Idea Junkie ⚪ (@jerrydoubles) October 21, 2022