An Australian woman has been arrested and jailed in Abu Dhabi after posting a picture of a car parked in a disabled spot and ‘writing bad words on social media.’
Jodi Magi, 39, uploaded an image of a car parked across two disability spaces outside her apartment block in February.
She blacked out the number plate and put the photo on Facebook, drawing attention to the seemingly selfish act, but not providing any identifying details or names.
However, someone in the apartment block complained to police and the case went to an Abu Dhabi court in June.
After spending a night in prison and reportedly signing untranslated Arabic documents, she is unsure how long she will be held for.
From the back of a police van she spoke to the ABC from her phone. “No one’s talking to me. No one’s telling me what’s going on,”
Ms Magi, who works as an artist in Abu Dhabi teaching Emirate women art, illustration and graphic design, said she is terrified.
“They were about to put me in male lock-up and then they turned me away and no one knows what to do with me.
“I’m pretty scared,” she said.
The picture, originally posted on her Facebook page, has since been deleted.
The ABC reported that Ms Magi’s aim was to draw attention to the selfish act of an able person taking up disabled parking spaces. She even took the caution of blacking out the number plate.
The ABC asked the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) if the Australian Government was going to make any representations to the UAE government about Ms Magi’s imprisonment.
In a statement they said: “The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade continues to provide consular assistance to an Australian woman detained in Abu Dhabi and that for privacy reasons they cannot provide any more information.”