Thanks for that link - it's a real horror story hiding behind the 'party' culture - this is what can happen if you are raped in UAE you get blamed and thrown in jail for 8 months, if you kiss someone on the cheek that's jail for 1 month and their jails are 'beyond the pale' - I've forwarded this on to my sister who's going to work in Qatar soon which as the crow flies is 236 miles away!

She's been lured in because she's been out of work for some time, the money out there is tax free, free accommodation and free first flight out there, she has a friend out there doing the same job who's told her it's good conditions working at the international school. There is a problem with the official contract of work in Qatar, it's not like ours, out there you are actually 'owned' by your employer and cannot exchange jobs or leave the country without their permission.  She's a teacher so she'll probably be okay but there are frightening stories of domestic workers from Asia being thrown in jail because they left a job (treated badly) without consent from an employer