Men jailed for a month for dressing as women at Metro station

Two men have been jailed for a month followed by deportation after being caught in a Dubai Metro station wearing woman’s clothes and carrying handbags containing make-up.

Prosecutors said the Filipino pair, aged 34 and 44, were stopped by a police officer at Al Rigga station after he became suspicious of the clothes they were wearing, which included women’s bras.

Court records show that when the policeman approached the duo and asked them for their ID during the incident in March, he was surprised to see their gender was stated as male.

He took them to Muraqabbat Police Station and the pair confessed that they enjoyed wearing women’s clothes, with both saying they had been dressing as women from an early age.

“I was with my friend in the station, we were on our way home from work,” the 44-year-old defendant, who works as a tailor, said in official records.. “It was 9pm and the policeman stopped us. I was wearing a white blouse and blue unisex jeans. I was wearing women’s shoes and a bra and had my hair in a ponytail.”

He added: “I’ve worn women’s clothes since I was 10 and I used to use hormone injections to enlarge my breasts. I’m not homosexual, I just like to dress like a woman.”

The 34-year-old, who is a clothes designer, was wearing a blouse, jeans, silver shoes and was carrying a blue handbag containing make-up. He said: “I’ve been wearing women’s clothes since I was eight. We didn’t do anything wrong and didn’t cause problems at the metro station.”

The two men were sentenced at Dubai Court of Misdemeanours yesterday. They have appealed the verdict and a hearing has been set for this month.

ali.shouk@7days.ae