Scorpions drummer in Dubai jail for 'insulting Islam': reports

[MW72]

Arrogant racist, deserves what he's got.

Really, coming from a member of the pariah state bordering the Med., once the hub of democracy, look how it has degenerated thru corruption and greed.The country this drunken person originated from is probably one of the biggest contributors to keeping your part of the EU from becoming a failed state.

Perhaps he was frightened , it is dangerous to travel with members of a certain religion, they seem to have a habit of self destruction, with collateral damage. 40 years ago I would walk the streets of Europe , observe members of races supporting this 'religion of peace' and think nothing of it, now I just wonder whether one is going to kill me, in the name of this 'religion of peace', and try to avoid travelling with them.

Why won't people accept that today that we are frightened and threatened by the practitioners of Islam? They come to our countries to work and prosper and then try to impose their archaic beliefs on our democratic societies.

Wow, you really are frightened. With you, the terrorists have acheived their goal. Don't let them win, don't be frightened, carry on living your life without fear ruling. 99.99% of these people you are frightened of are just like you. They worry about their jobs, they worry about their children's health and education, they worry about their favourite sports team's performance, the worry about how they can get a new car or how they will pay the utility bills, etc. They may be from a different culture or have a different religion but the vast majority have more important things on their minds than blowing themselves up.

[ukrules]

Never fly through Dubai, if possible avoid the entire UAE

[Steely Dan]

Never fly through Dubai, if possible avoid the entire UAE

I wish that were always an option, but many of the flights from Thailand to the UK transit through the middle eastages.

[Robby nz]

Was in the UK not long back and there was a story in the news of a man in Scotland who was given a 1 year jail sentence for throwing a piece of bacon into a lake.

Reason, it was deemed to be an insult to Islam.

Someone else may know more about that than me, however it shows you dont have to be in an Islamic country to insult Islam.

[GentlemanJim]

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The cult of the perpetually offended strikes again

Did you chaps pick up yesterday that in the UK and Ireland, 200 Sub-way sandwich shops have stopped serving ham because of objections by Muslims! The pressure groups have forced them into selling halal meat only!

Dubai is a great place to visit but far more dangerous than you can imagine. Many couples have been jailed for staying in hotel rooms together when they are not married! The hotels don't say anything, they will book you and your girlfriend in to a hotel, and all is fine until something happens where you need the police. Lets say you are in a car crash or you lose your purse etc, you call the police, they take your details including where you are staying and what room number, when your partner gives a different surname and same hotel and room number you are absolutely screwed. No kidding, go to jail do not pass go etc etc. Non married couples have been jailed for up to 3 months before being deported! I never new that sh*t, there but for the grace of God go I.

[tomhell]

This was stupid and arrogant behaviour. I think one month in Dubai prison cooled his temper and by the way he stopped one month drinking alcohol.

Maybe he can write a book about it and he makes a lot of money out of it.

The muslim countries are too serious with everything. Really a culture of "no fun".

Can one of the muslim thai visa members write a good muslim joke ??? ( a joke from muslims where they joke about their own culture/believe)

Thank you

Tom

[boomerangutang]

I'm an older generation and am not familiar with Scorpion's music. But I'm a pretty good drummer. They can call me if they need a fill-in drummer. No likely, huh.

[magicthai]

I didn't see the bit where he insulted Islam's ?

Just as in Thailand, that's the part it's illegal to repeat!

[fasteddie]

I'm an older generation and am not familiar with Scorpion's music. But I'm a pretty good drummer. They can call me if they need a fill-in drummer. No likely, huh.

Strange! as for one, the Scorpions are an older generation band, and secondly, one of their tracks must be one of the most played foreign track in Thailand.

But then you are American.

[Ulysses G.]

I'm American too and I had never heard of the Scorpions until I came to Thailand, but that was more than 20 years ago. I actually like a lot of their songs, but burnt out on them after a few years.

[BeforeTigers]

Wow. So detailed I almost feel as if I were there =\

You cannot judge this story, good or bad, based on this article.

[John1012]

Arrogant racist, deserves what he's got.

Really, coming from a member of the pariah state bordering the Med., once the hub of democracy, look how it has degenerated thru corruption and greed.The country this drunken person originated from is probably one of the biggest contributors to keeping your part of the EU from becoming a failed state.

Perhaps he was frightened , it is dangerous to travel with members of a certain religion, they seem to have a habit of self destruction, with collateral damage. 40 years ago I would walk the streets of Europe , observe members of races supporting this 'religion of peace' and think nothing of it, now I just wonder whether one is going to kill me, in the name of this 'religion of peace', and try to avoid travelling with them.

Why won't people accept that today that we are frightened and threatened by the practitioners of Islam? They come to our countries to work and prosper and then try to impose their archaic beliefs on our democratic societies.

Wow, you really are frightened. With you, the terrorists have acheived their goal. Don't let them win, don't be frightened, carry on living your life without fear ruling. 99.99% of these people you are frightened of are just like you. They worry about their jobs, they worry about their children's health and education, they worry about their favourite sports team's performance, the worry about how they can get a new car or how they will pay the utility bills, etc. They may be from a different culture or have a different religion but the vast majority have more important things on their minds than blowing themselves up.

I am not 'frightened', just extremely prudent. When you say 99.9% are just like me, you are very wrong. I do not look down upon the female gender and treat them as a 2nd class people, or want to stone adulterous women. Why then do the majority of the practitioners of this archaic and barbaric religion not vocally reject the excesses that members of this religion regularly practice? Fear of retribution from the 0.01%? If the followers of Islam vocally rejected and expelled the small minority that seem to misinterprate the 'religion of peace' from their communities, then perhaps the rest of us would not be so wary of them. But as they do not, then we must view the majority of the followers with suspicion. In the UK, during the 'troubles', people were searched when they entered public houses and clubs for bombs. This was a prudent action from a society under attack from an generally unidentifiable enemy who cared little for the lives of innocent people. The same now applies to followers of Islam. When will they rid themsleves of the cancer within their midst and join the real world.

[Chicog]

Was in the UK not long back and there was a story in the news of a man in Scotland who was given a 1 year jail sentence for throwing a piece of bacon into a lake.

Reason, it was deemed to be an insult to Islam.

Someone else may know more about that than me, however it shows you dont have to be in an Islamic country to insult Islam.

Rubbish.

There is no law in Great Britain against throwing bacon in lakes. Otherwise a lot of Fishermen would be in jail by now.

[Chicog]

Well, I didn't see where he insulted Islam but you can and will be arrested for insulting Islam in any way shape or form in an Islamic country. When was the last time you saw or read about a Muslim being arrested for insulting Christianity or Buddhism?

Insulting a woman in Sharia law carries a stiffer penalty than insulting a man.

However, this kind of asinine behaviour is outlawed in many countries. A good old "Christian" couple were taken to court in 2009 because they asked a guest if she was a "murderer and a terrorist" because she was wearing a hijab.

Some people are just walking sphincters.

Personally, I'd just give them a slap, but let the Afghans and Pakistanis loose on him and you might have read a headline saying "Scorpions Drummer beheaded".

[sustento]

Was in the UK not long back and there was a story in the news of a man in Scotland who was given a 1 year jail sentence for throwing a piece of bacon into a lake.

Reason, it was deemed to be an insult to Islam.

Someone else may know more about that than me, however it shows you dont have to be in an Islamic country to insult Islam.

Where do you find this stuff? Do you make it up? Man goes to jail for throwing bacon in lake F F S

[mca]

Was in the UK not long back and there was a story in the news of a man in Scotland who was given a 1 year jail sentence for throwing a piece of bacon into a lake.

Reason, it was deemed to be an insult to Islam.

Someone else may know more about that than me, however it shows you dont have to be in an Islamic country to insult Islam.

Where do you find this stuff? Do you make it up? Man goes to jail for throwing bacon in lake F F S

It is quite frankly completely unbelievable isnt it.

I heard it was actually a sausage roll and a reservoir.

[Garry]

I didn't see the bit where he insulted Islam's ?

Giving the finger to Pakistani's (Muslim country) or any muslim will land your arse in jail, just on that alone.

Where does it say that in the Koran ?.....thou shall not give the bird to someone ?....I can understand upsetting someone personally but insulting Islam

I work in the Middle East and know first hand what the public laws are. Muslims take great offense at getting the finger (the bird) flung at them. Feel free to come over to the UAE, Oman, Bahrain etc if you don't believe me.

[Soutpeel]

I didn't see the bit where he insulted Islam's ?

Giving the finger to Pakistani's (Muslim country) or any muslim will land your arse in jail, just on that alone.

Where does it say that in the Koran ?.....thou shall not give the bird to someone ?....I can understand upsetting someone personally but insulting Islam

I work in the Middle East and know first hand what the public laws are. Muslims take great offense at getting the finger (the bird) flung at them. Feel free to come over to the UAE, Oman, Bahrain etc if you don't believe me.

Not that I don't believe you, yes its most likely offensive, as it is everywhere else, but how is it an insult to Islam was the question I asked

[ggt]

I guess there are worse things...than uttering the "N" word...

[Chicog]

Not that I don't believe you, yes its most likely offensive, as it is everywhere else, but how is it an insult to Islam was the question I asked

Can't tell you, they aren't going to repeat an insult to Islam in print. That would be an insult to Islam.

[Chicog]

A bit more detail:

DUBAI // A member of the heavy metal band Scorpions was yesterday sentenced to a month in jail for insulting Islam and lifting his middle finger at Muslims at an airport.

He was in transit to Bahrain to perform at the country’s Formula One grand prix about 11pm on April 3.James Kottak, 51, the American drummer for the German band whose hits include Rock You Like a Hurricane, said he drank five glasses of wine on a flight from Moscow to Dubai.

He said he and a friend had taken a wrong turn and enter-ed the transit hall. Kottak was arrested for being drunk and became angry, witnesses said.

They said he started swearing and talking about “non-educated Muslims”, then flashed his middle finger at Pakistani passengers. Police said he also exposed his behind.

Kottak, who pleaded not guilty to insulting Islam and raising his middle finger, was also fined Dh2,000 for drinking without a licence, to which he pleaded guilty.

He has been held since April 3, and will be released soon because of the time served.

Policeman A A said he heard Kottak say, “What is this disgusting smell?” before he insulted Islam.

“I didn’t see anything else but I heard him. I then informed my supervisor, who came and took the defendant away,” A A said.

S O, 27, a customer service employee at the airport, said: “When he saw the Pakistani and Afghan passengers, he covered his nose and said that there was no way he will travel with them.”

He added that the drummer then started swearing repeatedly at the arrivals area of Terminal 2.

“He wasn’t talking to a person specifically but was talking in general,” said S O. “He was very nervous at the time and talking loudly.”

A B, 25, a Jordanian passenger services agent, said Kottak came over to her and was talking loudly. She said: “He was shouting ‘non-educated Muslims’ then he went to the office of the head and flashed his middle finger at the passengers.”

Police said in records that when he lowered his trousers he was asking people to touch his behind.

“I don’t remember saying these words and I did not flash my middle finger,” Kottak said to prosecutors.

When asked about taking down his trousers, he said “this is not true – I just lifted my shirt up to show the tattoo on my back” as a “spontaneous act”.

“There is no way that I would say such a phrase about Muslims, whether I was drunk or not,” he told police. “I confess to drinking alcohol but I refuse the other two charges, I did not do them.”

At Dubai Court of Misdemeanours yesterday, his lawyer said his client was innocent and the witnesses must have been misunderstood.

“Their testimonies are contradictory, your honour,” said Hamid Al Khazraji.

Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/uae/courts/scorpions-drummer-jailed-for-insulting-islam-in-dubai-airport#ixzz30VJygYw9
Follow us: @TheNationalUAE on Twitter | thenational.ae on Facebook

[Chicog]

From the same paper: You have to be really careful when getting rid of useless employees if they know the law.

DUBAI // An expatriate who was accused of sending a text message insulting Islam and the Prophet Mohammed to a colleague was acquitted this morning.

DM, a Briton, was accused of sending the message to his fellow sales executive KS, 24, after a business trip to Saudi Arabia in March last year.

The sales executive claimed that the Briton had reprimanded him for performing Umra after work hours during the trip, telling him that this was not an approved company activity.

When they returned to Dubai on March 15, the sales executive resigned. He claimed that two days later the Briton sent him a text message that insulted Islam and the Prophet Mohammed and warned him that he "knew lots of sheikhs".

The Briton was arrested on March 18 at his workplace in Oud Metha and taken to Rafaa Police Station where he was interrogated.

He denied sending the message, saying the only message he sent following the man's resignation was one that "wished him the best in the future".

When confronted with the message that included insults to Islam, he said that he was "stunned" to know the message was sent from his number and that he believed he had been set up using "some computer technologies".

He said he was asleep at the time the message was sent and that he had requested records of his mobile phone activity after he was informed of the complaint. He said these records proved he sent no such message.

The Misdemeanours Court acquitted the sales executive of four charges of insulting Islam and the Prophet Mohammed and one of insulting KS.

The court received a report from Etisalat Telecommunication in which it said that it was possible for a text message to be sent through certain websites on the internet in which the sender chooses the phone number he desires to appear as the sender.

Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/courts/dubai-expat-acquitted-over-sending-text-message-islam-insult#ixzz30VMY0F9U
Follow us: @TheNationalUAE on Twitter | thenational.ae on Facebook

[Chicog]

And even more stupid:

ABU DHABI // A British engineer accused of insulting Islamic monuments by asking “when are we going to finish the damn mosques?” in a municipality meeting has been cleared by the third Appeals Court to look into his case.

The court ruled “damn” had many connotations in English and he did not use it as an insult, but as an expression “common in the environment he comes from”.

J?M, director of parks and recreation at the municipality, was charged after a colleague reported him for his outburst in a June 2011 meeting.

The Court of First Instance convicted him, sentencing him to a month in prison and he appealed unsuccessfully.

He said the words were not meant as an insult and that he was concerned with the time the project was taking.

On his second trip to the Appeals Court his penalty was changed to a Dh5,000 fine.

He again appealed to the Court of Cassation, which sent him back for the third hearing.

Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/courts/briton-accused-of-insulting-islam-cleared-by-third-uae-appeals-court#ixzz30VNB4vtq
Follow us: @TheNationalUAE on Twitter | thenational.ae on Facebook

[boomerangutang]

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I'm an older generation and am not familiar with Scorpion's music. But I'm a pretty good drummer. They can call me if they need a fill-in drummer. No likely, huh.

Strange! as for one, the Scorpions are an older generation band, and secondly, one of their tracks must be one of the most played foreign track in Thailand.

But then you are American.

I just turned 62. I started tuning out of popular music in the mid-70's. I stay abreast of a few things, but there's too much garbage to try to stay tuned to everything. I actually like Lady Gaga's 1st album, so I haven't completely been living in a hole in the ground. Maybe I've heard Scorpion and didn't know the name of the band doing the tune. I wish Thai music could get out of its 30 year sappy doldrums, but that's another topic. If you live in Thailand, you have no choice but to hear it blasted everywhere, even on overnight buses, when everyone is trying to snooze.

[Steely Dan]

It would appear that charges of Insulting Islam can be used as a catch all to cause problems to someone you dislike, a mild version of the blasphemy laws in other words. On balance it seems likely that the drummer was being obnoxious, but I suspect the charge he was jailed for was trumped up to suit.

[mrdome]

Not excusing Mr. Kottak's drunken stupidity, but:

Chicog, don't forget about the female transit passenger arrested for not having her prescription for her medicine on her, the one arrested for a few poppy seeds that had fallen into his shirt pocket and the one arrested for 0.003 grams of cannabis stuck to the bottom of his shoe! Obviously, Dubai discovered a new hiding place for drugs with that one. The last one got 4 years.

OK, that one was in 2008, maybe things have changed, maybe.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/7801410/Dubai-warning-to-travellers-over-prescription-medicine.html

OK, that was an article from 2010, maybe ...

Well, what about the treatment of the workers in Qatar, there to build the soccer world championship facilities. The scandal the West doesn't really care that much about, because the footie championships are sacred.

Don't travel to or transit via these ME-non-democracies and don't fly these airlines, expanding on the back of paying lower salaries to their staff and being subsidized by their countries and on a heavy world-wide market-share expansion drive, especially Emirates.

[Chicog]

Not excusing Mr. Kottak's drunken stupidity, but:

Chicog, don't forget about the female transit passenger arrested for not having her prescription for her medicine on her, the one arrested for a few poppy seeds that had fallen into his shirt pocket and the one arrested for 0.003 grams of cannabis stuck to the bottom of his shoe! Obviously, Dubai discovered a new hiding place for drugs with that one. The last one got 4 years.

OK, that one was in 2008, maybe things have changed, maybe.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/7801410/Dubai-warning-to-travellers-over-prescription-medicine.html

OK, that was an article from 2010, maybe ...

Well, what about the treatment of the workers in Qatar, there to build the soccer world championship facilities. The scandal the West doesn't really care that much about, because the footie championships are sacred.

Don't travel to or transit via these ME-non-democracies and don't fly these airlines, expanding on the back of paying lower salaries to their staff and being subsidized by their countries and on a heavy world-wide market-share expansion drive, especially Emirates.

I'm not forgetting them. I'm saying they instigated the action against them by being pissed and arguing with UAE officials.

Once you get yourself in the shit they'll find a way of stitching you up.

Understand?

[ukrules]

Not excusing Mr. Kottak's drunken stupidity, but:

Chicog, don't forget about the female transit passenger arrested for not having her prescription for her medicine on her, the one arrested for a few poppy seeds that had fallen into his shirt pocket and the one arrested for 0.003 grams of cannabis stuck to the bottom of his shoe! Obviously, Dubai discovered a new hiding place for drugs with that one. The last one got 4 years.

OK, that one was in 2008, maybe things have changed, maybe.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/7801410/Dubai-warning-to-travellers-over-prescription-medicine.html

OK, that was an article from 2010, maybe ...

Well, what about the treatment of the workers in Qatar, there to build the soccer world championship facilities. The scandal the West doesn't really care that much about, because the footie championships are sacred.

Don't travel to or transit via these ME-non-democracies and don't fly these airlines, expanding on the back of paying lower salaries to their staff and being subsidized by their countries and on a heavy world-wide market-share expansion drive, especially Emirates.

I'm not forgetting them. I'm saying they instigated the action against them by being pissed and arguing with UAE officials.

Once you get yourself in the shit they'll find a way of stitching you up.

Understand?

The solution is to never fly Emirates / transit in Dubai. I avoid the whole region and generally fly direct to somewhere in Europe.

That's a pity for them as I always fly business class these days and they will never get my custom / money again because of incidents like this.

If they treat people like shit they lose money. Simple.

[sustento]

I've flown Emirates for years as they fly from provincial airports which is convenient for me. I also spent 10 years sailing in and out of the Persian Gulf to places like Saudi and Iran which make Dubai look liberal. I've never had any problems at all. Mind you I've never got pissed and started shooting my mouth off or pitched up with weed in my pocket. When in Rome and all that...

[daveAustin]

The moral of the story, do not go to Dubai. A bunch of children.