DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Houston woman known online as “Sassy Trucker” who was stranded in Dubai for months because of an altercation at a car rental agency left the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, an advocate for women said. .
Detained in Dubai, said Radha Stirling, who runs a pro-for-hire advocacy group and has long been critical of the UAE.
Stirling said Allen paid a $1,360 deposit to the Dubai police to get the travel ban she faced lifted.
It was not clear whether Allen still had any legal complaints against her in the United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula. Dubai officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the US State Department.
The circumstances of April’s altercation at the anonymous car rental agency also remain unclear. Allen was earlier in a rental car involved in a crash.
Sterling described Allen as facing possible charges for “yelling” at a rental car agency employee, without elaborating on what Allen said at the time. Stirling accused the rental car agency employee of “raising his voice” at Allen and following her out of the store in a threatening manner during the incident.
Dubai Police disputed Stirling’s description of the altercation, saying instead that it had received a complaint from the car rental agency about Allen “accusing her of slander and defamation of an employee amid a dispute over car rental fees”.
The UAE has rules that strictly govern speech far beyond what is common in Western countries. Raising the middle finger in a traffic dispute, sending a text message naming someone or swearing in public can easily spark criminal cases—something foreign tourists who flock here may not realize until it’s too late.
Under UAE law, publicly insulting another person can carry up to a year in prison and a $5,450 fine. Disputes over car rental agency fees have seen other foreign tourists stuck in the city-state in the past as well.
