DUBAI has long sold itself as a playground for Brits – a sun-soaked safe haven of luxury hotels, tax-free living and iron-clad security.
But a dramatic arrest and lighting-fast deportation carried out at the Kremlin‘s request has raised a chilling question – are Brits actually safe in the UAE?
The Sun reports: Dubai deported Lyubomir Korba to Russia after Moscow accused him of shooting a top general in Moscow, according to Kremlin state media.
Radha Stirling, CEO and founder of Detained in Dubai, warned she has seen “numerous cases” where targets – including Brits – have been extradited “to countries that the UK would certainly have opposed”.
“This leaves British citizens and foreign nationals at significant risk when they travel to the UAE,” she told The Sun.
“They may believe they are safe, but the UAE can easily deport them to a third country without due process and without consulting with the UK.”
An uncomfortable possibility has been raised that the safety and legal rights of Western citizens in Dubai could be quietly traded for diplomatic leverage.
Radha said: “Extradition is being used as leverage.
“People are caught in the middle of state-to-state negotiations.”
Radha added that the current framework incentivises aggressive requests, where leverage matters more than justice.
“This is not law enforcement,” she said.
“It is deal-making. What matters is not evidence or human rights, but what the UAE gains.”
Radha continued: “For some people, Dubai is no longer a transit hub. It has become a handover point.”
Innocent people are at risk of wrongful extradition to Russia and other countries like Uzbekistan, as I have seen recently in multiple cases.”
Radha Stirling, Interpol and Extradition Expert, founder of IPEX Reform
Radha said: “It is certainly concerning that the UAE cooperates with Russia and other countries in ways that bypass proper judicial process.
“It puts innocent people at risk of wrongful extradition to Russia and other countries like Uzbekistan, as I have seen recently in multiple cases.”
Campaign groups Detained in Dubai and IPEX Reform are calling for urgent international scrutiny of the UAE’s extradition practices.
“If this continues, anyone with political or economic value can be traded,” Radha added.
For the hundreds of thousands of Brits who live in, work in, or holiday in Dubai every year, this shift could carry serious consequences.
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