The US woman has now been placed under a travel ban. (Representational Pic)
A woman from Houston, Texas, has been detained in Dubai on charges of “screaming in public”. The family of Tierra Young Allen told Fox26 that she’s been stuck there for two months and they are terrified for her future. Ms Allen’s mother also claimed that her daughter’s passport has been confiscated. The social media influencer, who works as a truck driver in Houston, has now been placed under a travel ban pending the outcome of the investigation, the outlet further said in its report.
According to her mother Tina Baxter, the incident took place in May when her daughter was on vacation with her friend in the UAE. The friends got involved in an accident and the hired car they were driving was seized.
No one was hurt in the “minor fender bender”, but her friend was detained by the Dubai police on ground that she was driving the vehicle.
The individual, whose identity has been withheld, was released from custody after a week but drama began when Ms Allen went to the car rental company to collect her credit cards, ID and other personal items that were seized.
“She found out she could only receive those items if she paid an undisclosed amount of money. She dealt with a very aggressive individual a young man there who was screaming at her,” Ms Baxter told Fox26, adding that her 29-year-old daughter ultimately yelled back resulting in her being charged for screaming in Dubai.
“She is in jail for one reason and one reason alone, she raised her voice. In that country, a female is not even allowed to raise her voice. If she raises her voice it’s punishable by jail time,” explains Community Activist Quanell X.
“It also could result in prison time. So it’s very scary,” said Ms Baxter.
As per Newsweek, laws on conduct in public in the UAE are very different to those in the US. The Department of State has even warned Americans who consider visiting the predominantly Muslim country, that: “Public decency and morality laws throughout the U.A.E are much stricter than in the United States.”
Ms Allen runs a social media account across various platforms called ‘The Sassy Trucker’ that documents her journeys.
Her TikTok page boasts more than 182,000 followers, her Instagram has almost 52,000 accounts following it, while her Facebook page is followed by 61,000 accounts.