Dubai imprisons taxi driver for assaulting US sailor

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – A court in Dubai has sentenced an Egyptian taxi driver to six months in prison and deportation after convicting him of sexually assaulting a U.S. Navy officer.

The National, an English-language, state-aligned newspaper in Abu Dhabi, reported the verdict in its Tuesday’s edition.

It says the 34-year-old Egyptian grabbed the 22-year-old woman’s thigh and forced her to touch his groin while driving her from a mall to Dubai’s Jebel Ali port in March 2017.

The taxi driver was initially cleared of the charge in a lower court, but prosecutors appealed and won a conviction at Dubai’s Court of Appeal.

Jebel Ali is the U.S. Navy’s busiest port of call outside of the U.S.

The U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet did not immediately respond to a request for comment.