British mum jailed in Dubai for Facebook post calling ex-husband's new wife a horse is finally allowed to return home

The British mum who was jailed in Dubai when she arrived with her daughter for her ex-husband's burial has been told she can go home.

Laleh Shahravesh, 55, was arrested in the UAE and detained under strict cybercrime laws when she visited with her daughter Paris, 14. 

Laleh Shahravesh and daughter Paris

Ms Shahravesh, from Richmond, south-west London, called Samah al-Hammadi, from Tunisia, a horse in a Facebook post shared in 2016 after she discovered her ex-husband Pedro Correia Dos Santos had married her. Samah al-Hammadi reported to the authorities and when Ms Shahravesh arrived in the nation after her husband's death from a heart attack, she was arrested with her daughter but her daughter was soon released.

The Facebook post

Laleh Shahravesh, 55, was convicted of a misdemeanour and ordered to pay a £650 (Dh3,000) penalty. She has now been freed but will have to pay the £650 penalty before she can leave the UAE. 

Ms Shahravesh had been told she faced two years in prison and a £50,000 fine for the posts after her March 10 arrest. But her lawyer Michel Chalhoub this afternoon told The Sun: "She is free to go home. I’m rushing about trying to get her passport now."

Samah al-Hammadi

She appeared briefly in the Dubai Court of Misdemeanours on Thursday, which initially adjourned the case until next week, Metro reports. The judge then ordered her passport to be returned to her.

Ms Shahravesh arriving outside the court in Dubai 

Speaking immediately after the announcement Laleh said: "Just when I thought this nightmare was never going to end, after the court hearing this morning, now I know I am going home to my daughter.

"I am overcome with happiness and relief. I can’t thank Radha and Detained in Dubai enough and all the support I received from the public."