A young French influencer filed a complaint on May 31 in France after he was, according to him, turned away from Dubai airport in the United Arab Emirates because of his supposed sexual orientation, franceinfo learned on Thursday from a source familiar with the matter.
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“It is not normal !”, protests to franceinfo the influencer Ibrahim Godin, followed by around 600,000 people on Snapchat and TikTok. Convinced of having been expelled from Dubai airport because the local authorities took him for a homosexual, he filed a complaint on May 31 for “public defamation based on sexual orientation”. The Vesoul prosecution, where the 21-year-old is from, has opened an investigation.
Leaving Lyon with another influencer friend on May 9, Ibrahim arrived the next day, in the early morning, at Dubai airport. “My passport was valid, I had done a PCR test, but a customs officer told me to go to the immigration office to obtain a visa”, he explains to franceinfo. Alone for seven hours without eating or drinking in this office, a policeman finally tells him that he will be expelled from the United Arab Emirates.
@ibrahim.470 This stuff only happens to me… #foryoupage #pourtoi #dubai ♬ SINGING WITH THE WOLVES – Anica
On the way to take the plane that will bring him back to Paris, this same policeman who escorts him then makes comments that shock the young man. “He looked at me and he said, ‘the guy who was with you, wasn’t that your boyfriend?'” Officially, Ibrahim never knew the reason for his expulsion and does not understand. “It’s stupid! When we deport someone, it’s because he’s dangerous or he’s not in good standing, not because he loves a woman or a man.”
By revealing his story, the young influencer says he wants “doing some prevention” for anyone traveling with friends or as a couple to the United Arab Emirates. “Dubai is not all pretty, all rosy as we see on social networks.” By filing a complaint, he also hopes to finally have an answer from the consulate on the reasons for his expulsion, more than five weeks after the facts.
According to the latest International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) map of sexual orientation laws around the world, published in December 2020, the United Arab Emirates is among the last 11 countries in the world where the death penalty is always possible for LGBTQI+ people. Many legal obstacles also prevent the exercise of rights for these people in this wealthy Gulf state with a Ministry of Tolerance.