A Northern Ireland man detained in Dubai for posting a negative online review of a dog salon has been banned from travelling home for Christmas.
Craig Ballentine, 33, from Cookstown, was arrested last October, fined and given a one-month social media ban. He finally hoped to end his ordeal by travelling home on Tuesday.
But as he made his way to a police station in Dubai before planning to catch a plane home, he learned the authorities want to appeal his case and have set a court date for the new year.
READ MORE: Family's urgent plea to help get NI man detained in Dubai home for Christmas
He is not in prison and is staying with a friend while he awaits the outcome of the case.
Craig said on Wednesday: "I was shocked. I received an email and called family and friends. I just couldn't stop crying. You're holding onto your emotions, you’re just trying to focus on, ‘Let’s get out of here’.
"That was my priority. I wanted to get the travel ban lifted and just get out of Dubai as soon as possible. The next flight was at 2am and that was the main goal.
"Then everything collapsed. Anyone would be quite devastated. I got the email that the court was not happy and they wanted to appeal again."
Craig worked in a dog grooming salon in Dubai last year, but fell ill. Despite providing a doctor’s note, he was reported as “absconded” to police when he did not go to work. Under UAE law, Craig could not leave the country.
The travel ban was lifted and, after two months of expensive legal wrangling, Craig eventually flew home. When he was back in Northern Ireland, he wrote a negative review online of the salon.
Craig returned last October for a holiday to Dubai’s UAE neighbour Abu Dhabi and was immediately arrested. He is one of a number of people from across the island of Ireland detained in Dubai recently.
Roscommon woman Tori Towey faced prison on charges of drinking alcohol and an alleged suicide bid after she sought police help for alleged domestic abuse while Wicklow man Stuart Quiney and Dubliner Alma McCabe have also been held in the country.
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